The first round of Olympic trials began with the K4 winning the 1000m and the following day was the K1 1000m races. I breezed through the heat winning it comfortably. However, the afternoons final didn’t prove to be as straightforward as I had hoped. I knew Murray Stewart and Jacob Clear were paddling well as I have been training with the two for the past couple of months. My biggest issue didn’t prove to be the other paddlers. Even before the race began I had paddled down my lane some 50m to find that it was infested with long strands and clumps of weed and straight away the focus turned from thinking about race plans to worrying about how on earth I would dodge the weed. I ended with a third and looked towards the rest of the regatta to work out ways of still making the Olympic team.

The following day I teamed up with Murray to compete in the K2 200m final and 1000m, which are other Olympic trial events. In the 200m final we placed a very close 3^rd. In the preferred 1000m we paddled straight through the heat and went straight through to the final. The final again proved a challenge with our boat catching weed only 100m into the race. We pushed through and thankfully came across the line narrowly beating the New Zealand crews. The last 150m of the race weren’t the most comfortable but the first 850m flew even with the weed!

As there are only 7 coveted kayak men’s places on the Australian team for all distances it is a pretty gnarly task at cementing a position. It will all come down to this week’s trials at the Australian National Sprint Championships. My aim this week is to take out the K1 and K2 1000m final to which will take the K1 to a third and final race off. After our first race together, another event I think has great medal potential is Murray and myself in the K2 1000. If we can do what we have been doing in training then we are laughing! This is also another pillar to making the team. This coming week will also see the return of David Smith into the K4 team for whom I was sitting in for at 1^st selection. He has been pretty crook with Glandular fever but has been able to come back training a few days this week and is feeling a lot better. It is down to the pointy end of the selection and I know I am feeling fit and fast leading into this weeks racing. Just keen to get it over and done with and put 100% focus into London!

To keep up to date with all the latest results from this weeks National Championships and Olympic selection visit: http://sprint.canoe.org.au/

My job is to win the finals of all three this weekend and do it all again at the second trial, the National Championships, in two weeks. I’m hoping to continue the good form we had today winning the K4 1000m final. I was standing in for David Smith, who is out this week with illness.

Unfortunately this year I chose not to compete. I’m not the type of person to wrap myself up in cotton wool but I thought that maybe it wasn’t the best idea leading into Olympic qualification. Still I went down to catch up with Mark Webber and check out the event, give a few of the competitors including Rick Kelly and Ryan Sandes a couple of tips on how to paddle a kayak more efficiently and more important just have a good time!

This is definitely one of those races that’s on the ‘lists of things to do’

Pic-Peter Vidani

Being 2011 the QAS named it’s top 10 athletes of the decade. This is the second time they have announced this prestigious award (1991-2001). To my surprise I was lucky enough to be named in that top 10 for 2001-2011. The other 9 athletes named were Duncan Free, Anna Meares, Stef Rice, Emma Snowsill, Jodie Henry, Lisbeth Trickett, Jamie Dwyer, Chris Scott and Leisel Jones.

It was a great night and a privilege to be named amongst such superb athletes.

There are a few highlights of the weekend that I love doing. 1. Handing out Medals to all the finishers in the Kids Triathlon. These young kids hold nothing back whether they are serious competitors or the weekend warriors. It is also great to see that in conjunction with the kid’s event they hold the Noosa Special Triathlon it is the only Triathlon specifically held for people with special needs.

I also don’t mind having a go in the Noosa Eyeline 1000 ocean swim. It is a long way when I haven’t been swim training in years literally! This year I think I did the smart thing and not tried to race in the elites with the likes of Ky Hurst and raced my age group 20-29. I was stoked and a little shocked when I managed to race up the beach in 1st.

Another highlight for me that weekend is the Celebrity teams tri. The winning team of the ‘Legends’ triathlon was made up of two-time world ironman champion Chris McCormack, running, three-time Superbike world champion Troy Bayliss, cycling and myself doing the swim leg

VIP stand is the place to be early on the Sunday morning to watch the elite Male and female triathletes cycling and running past! I am really looking forward to it again next year! Thanks USM!

It is amazing at how your body reacts to a holiday. It is as if it goes into shut down/relax mode and it makes you wonder how on earth a few weeks before I was racing at World Champs.  However, this is my last holiday before everything heats up and I begin the next phase leading up to London.