The morning of departure from Alumine, not quite time to reflect on the campaign, but I will miss this little routine of mine of an early breakfast writing this blog in this seat. There will be plenty of time for reflection over the coming 25 hours of bus travel to get to the airport!

Yesterday was pretty bleak. We arrived at the river, at about 900 metres alt. with it raining really hard and the rain falling as snow at about 1000m. Luckily the lads didn't realise the river was rising from the mornings weather or else it would have been a tad intimidating! While the lads were disappointed with their place, coach was far from disappointed with their performance. Some solid class four rafting, far more difficult than anyone had anticipated Reading and running that sort of water is quite advanced and the lads did it superbly. The other teams had a definite advantage here with having been down this section a few times prior so really stoked with how they went. As they were instructed to avoid the big holes, sometimes they were a bit conservative maybe but I am OK with that!

The afternoon was rest again ready for the event i think the lads were looking forward to the most... the after party. And it did not disappoint Definitely Class 5 and the lads were not quite so conservative with their lines! Enough said about that and I promised there would be no photos. Lets just say, while at some stage coach thought he had a smother on his hands and we did suffer a little bit of mismothering, the mob were back in the shed by 4am... now they might need to be drenched.

A couple of photos... the warm up on the lake and the "regatta" start. Sorry I don't have any shots of the river run, there will be loads onIRF World Rafting Championships facebook page

Sounds a bit cliche now maybe but another awesome day in Argentina. We had a pretty disappointing start with the lack of competition experience for the lads manifesting itself as a flustered first run that saw them miss loads of gates in the slalom.

Their second run was fantastic and you could see it in their faces as they crossed the finish line. Great to see! Unfortunately a wee bit of a turtle (one of the boys poking their head through a gate on the wrong way through, not naming any names but you might be able to pick who it was from the photos at the finish line!) blew their penalties out a bit.

An early finish so the lads strolled home and spent the afternoon playing cards with U23's, good times. It was hot, windy and dusty again at the venue so it was good to get away from that and into some shelter. Finally a bit of relief from the heat tonight, unfortunately the cooling rain fell while we were on our way back from the supy. Drowned rats! Wetter than slalom...

Wavey cooked a mean meal for us tonight and we invited our awesome hosts Carlos and Mimi to join us for dinner, Muy Bienos David.

Sleep early tonight (didn't have to wait for the restaurant to open for dinner) ready for a big, fun and exciting day on the downriver tomorrow. First ones are a sweet approach into a challenging gate 3... no penalties here for the lads!

Heaps of photos today! Had an awesome day on the slalom training, the boys had fun and were pretty bloody styley actually. They were all over that slalom course, a couple of ferries that no other juniors were making and definitely smiling more than the others! Haven't seen the course for tomorrow of course, so hopefully it plays into our hands.

It was pretty cool to get to hang out with the U23 girls for the afternoon and they were looking like machines on the water as well.

Tha slalom is only 5 mins up the road, so finally no travelling for us! A big day tomorrow so we are going to eat a big ol Argentinian steak with mashed spuds tonight! I think there has been too much pizza for the last couple of days!

Enjoy the photos

Nearly a flip...

plenty of splashes in the faces...

always definitely too cool for school

Sorry folks no photos yet from our awesome day yesterday, might be able to get some up this avo (technical issues i.e. coach isn't tecinological enough). The boys had a really good head 2 head race but an unfortunate draw had them beaten in their first knockout race by the eventual finalists. Thats what happens when you have a poor sprint time unfortunately, the boys are a bit gutted because they now know that they could have brought out a bit more mongrel to the race ... too polite these kiwis kids.

never mind all that though, we had an awesome afternoon with an awesome river run down the DR section. It is an awesome piece of water, pretty full on, so coach went down with the boys to see how they are going to handle it and coach was proud as punch and reckons they will be all good. It is quite intimidating water and a bit of a shame we couldn't get more practise runs in but the lads are keen so bring on the downriver!

A well earned lie in this morning before an afternoon of slalom training, another nice day, better make the most of it because the forecast isn't flash, will be nice to have a bit of respite from the sun to be honest!

Although the results board didn't really show it we had a great day yesterday. We have some very strong and experienced teams to compete against, even though we were a wee bit disappointed with the result we were all still really pleased with how we nailed our lines through the main rapid and we're still looking forward to the rest of the competition.

The day started early and the sight of our rafts covered in ice when we were allocated them was a bit disconcerting but soon forgotten once on the water. Super nervous for all of us, that time on the start line for the first time at a world championship event, at least i think it was, i know it was for the coach!

Our day of competition was over by ten past nine, we were back on the bank to support the U23 girls, then chilled for a couple hours at the river and came on home after the prizegiving.

Our afternoon of rest turned into a bit of a mission, the boys noticed someone standing on a rock high up above the Pueblo and decided we needed to get there. So we went for a wee hike to a rock looking out over the river valley. It was an awesome mission, followed it up with a massive meal (at about 10.30 in true espanol style) and then bed. Up this morning, another good looking day and ready for the head 2 head races. After those we are to check out the downriver section. Let you know how it goes, there are some great images coming up on the IRF website for another way to check out the action.

First day on the water yesterday, everyone stoked to get out there. Was an exciting morning but certainly cold. The weather is clearing slowly, the sun was out but a cold wind meant we couldn't really enjoy it. Looks better out the window today!

Training day for sprints was split into two halves with U23 and youth in the morning and Opens in the afternoon. The lads made the most of their time available and got 5 or 6 runs down the rapid. Lunch on site, check out the massive grill plate!

Got to get away early from there and got an afternoon of rest and recuperation walking into town met a few of the locals. They walked home with a bunch of ingredients to make pizza, but our wonderful host Carlos insisted on making it for us!

Early breakfast this morning for an early start on the sprints, start list below. Day over competition wise by 9.11am! We'll see what mischief we can get up to this afternoon

Settling in to Argentine time the boys are getting anxious to get on the river. Its Monday morning and time for training runs to start. We are off to the river early today, H2H and sprint practise runs, a day of sizing up the competition and calming nerves a little with some river time! Luckily, after a very cold start to the campaign yesterday, we have woken to clear skies, hard to tell quite yet what the temp is going to be but its already got a better feel than yesterday.

The opening ceremony was fun, the usual slightly tedious run of politicians getting their airtime but it was followed by an awesome show of Tango and traditional dancing and a fantastic party feel with the usual latino enthusiasm!

Always an epic journey to these great places for rafting comps and this was no different! A total of 25 hours on buses for the lads, with one 17 hour leg non-stop, not even a snack break and great spanish tv to entertain us. Smooth sailing on the transitions though, we were a bit worried about communication breakdowns with getting picked up in Neuquen but they were there waiting for us and we arrived in Alumine at about 8pm on Saturday night, ready for a meal, a shower and bed!

Alumine is a cool little pueblo, in Patagonia. We are at about 900 metres, went over a couple of mountain passes of about 14-1500 metres and lots of gravel roads so really has a great isolated feeling. We are up and at em this morning, ready for the competition to begin, off to opening ceremony shortly, its a pretty full day and the lads were invited to dinner with the mayor tonight so will get more news to you tomorrow. Unfortunately the internet is pretty poor, so I will post if I can, when I can, hopefully get some shots up after the opening.

Awastone Licensed cafe is now open to the public everyday from 8am till 8pm. Join us for a coffee by the river!

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