2014 Season- 9 Countries and Counting for Nouria Newman!

My 2014 season so far…

It’s been a busy season so far. I’ve spent more hours paddling than in class and it’s probably the reason why I wasn’t far from failing my university exams. I’ve spent more time traveling than beeing at “home”. In fact I don’t really know what or where “home” is. Since the begining of 2014 I took more than 30 planes, I’m probably one of the best client of the French railroad company and it’s too bad I’m not enough well organized to get miles from the loyalties program ! Sometimes it’s not easy but I wouldn’t change a thing. I love kayaking and I the lifestyle that comes along with it. It’s not always easy but I never get homesick. “Home” is whenever I have fun on the water and people I love around me.

OUGANDA

2014 couldn’t start in a better way. I had an amazing time paddling freestyle on the White Nile. It was great to be stuck on an Island without having to worried about anything but going kayaking, eating and sleeping.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

In february I went to Al Ain for a two weeks slalom training camp. It felt weird and wrong to paddle on an artificial river in the middle of the desert but it was also nice to train in warm water.

CZECH REPUBLIC

In March I spent a few days in Prague to train and pick up two new slalom boats. As always I had a great time in Prague. I love the slalom course, the city and the super cool czech paddlers. Traveling back to France with two boats, a paddle and a bag wasn’t easy though.

AUSTRALIA

I April I spent 3 weeks in Australia for the U23 slalom World Championships. During my first week I ran into Claire O’ after one of my slalom trainings. I was super happy to see hear and it was a big surprise since I had no idea she was in Australia. I had a great time catching up with her and we even managed to paddle freestyle together. I was stoked to get some useful tips from the current freestyle world champion. The slalom race didn’t go well but I still had a good time traveling to Australia.

FRENCH PYRENEES

After Australia I headed to the French Pyrenees to prepare for slalom team trails in Pau. I was a little bit tired of slalom, and I was so happy to get some good waterlevels and go creeking for a couple of days. It was awesome ! In the end I also managed to make the slalom french team so it was all good.

VIENNA

Not even a week after making the team we headed to Vienna for the Slalom European Championships. I didn’t managed to get good runs in individual but I was happy to get a bronze medal in the team event.

LONDON

Straight after Europeans we headed to London for the first slalom World Cup of the season. When Craig told me Hurley was in I couldn’t resist so I skipped on day of training and went surfing all day.

PRAGUE

I had a week of training in Pau after London’s World Cup and then I headed to Prague for another slalom World Cup. As usually it was very nice and on Tuesday Vavra Hradilek had organized a super fun head to head race which was combining shooting and slalom.

EXAMS and Back to the PYRENEES

After Prague I didn’t paddle for 5 days in a row. I spent a whole week stuck on a chair studying at the very last minute and passing some exams. When it finally came to an end, the waterlevels in the Pyrenees were perfect. I was sooo happy to go kayaking ! Here is a few pictures Red Bull did in the Pyrenees. https://www.redbullcontentpool.com/content/international/products/perm/1404895340997-728205293

USA

Right now I’m in Deep Creek (Maryland) to train for the next slalom World Championships. I’ve mostly done slalom but I managed to go creeking on the Upper Yough and at Great Falls – and it was great.

My season has been pretty full on and it’s not even close to be over. I have another week in the US and I have a couple more destinations on my schedule : Spain, French Alps, Germany, Canada, back to the US and Austria.