Day 1, opening ceremony of the World Rafting Championships

By Jez

It’s amazing how one day can change everything. We were feeling a little down mainly because of the cultural shock of this country and not being used to the South Korean’s interesting food options, however today we officially moved into the Athlete’s Village and let me say these Korean’s really have layed out the red carpet. Starting off with amazing accommodation, and not having to sleep on the traditional Korean floors is a big thing. The food is nothing short of spectacular. Most of the teams from around the world have struggled with what we found in this small local town as all the teams have had to fend for themselves, but now as the Athlete’s village has opened we have western style food. How amazing is good food. The team was starting to become a little down prior to this and it’s just what we needed to pick up our spirits. Right now I just finished singing a few Karaoke songs in the Karaoke lounge, yes that’s right they have one of those here, and now I am sitting in front of a large traditional Korean band as they punch out some big sounds with huge drums and large symbols. I sound like I have ADD….and now they have put on a huge outdoor movie for the Athlete’s to watch. This place has it all from indoor outdoor pools, rock climbing wall, 4 wheeler hire, Doctor on call, our own translator driver and car for the entire event all set right next to the river. I love this place, what an amazing village. The Koreans have spent a whole lot of money on this event with huge posters covering the mountains and flags as far as the eye can see. I am sure a few of these will be relocated to places around the world very soon.
As for training, teams got to train on the sprint section which is still quite low, but we hear that tonight we will get a stack of rain which will raise the river. We found a bit of deep water that was great for training and getting timings right however, we really need the rain. The river is expected to raise almost 4 inches overnight due to the monsoon rains, we can only hope. Our fingers are crossed. The teams to beat here look like the Russians, Germans, Slovenians, USA, Czech Republic and the Aussies who are all motoring down the course very well. Throughout the day you can see teams from all over the world picking lines, looking at rocks, watching other competitors run lines and doing what every they can to work out what they will do on game day. On a side note, the Slovakia team can really sing.
Anyway, I guess I should really be focusing on winning instead of karaoke.

Stay safe and keep on boating.
jez
Jackson Kayak Coordinator of Karma