::TOILING IN OBSCURITY::

Dear Mike Toth,

Thanks for including me on your list of dream interviews, I'm truly honoured. Once again demonstrating your acute ability to get under my skin a bit, your reference to training for the upcoming World Championships in Halifax as "toiling in obscurity" has prompted me to bite at your bait. Your tasty morsels have hooked this humble fish upon your line.

I can fulfill one of your fantasies, Mike. While I doubt I can arrange a pillow-fight between the Williams sisters, I will offer you an interview on Connected or the Fan. Bring your pal McClown along if you really want to have a go.

That's if you've got time for the little people amidst so much real sports news like drafts, trades, Wimbledon and the Confederations Cup. Why are those tournaments seemingly way less important than the trades in the sports pages today? There are real games going on right now ya know... not to mention the Canadian Track and Field Champs at Varsity Stadium here in T.O.

The proverbial puck is on your ice, Mike... look forward to chatting!
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...WHOOPS, FRACTURED ANKLEBONE!?

So it's old news, not terribly good news... but it's news thanks to a certain Halifax newspaper, so I guess I should step-up and blog about it. Last week I went and fractured my ankle in the Grand Canyon. No crazy insane story like I crashed while paragliding through the canyon in a Norwegian flying-squirrel suit, or like I got bucked off my horse while breaking in wild mustang stallions in the desert - I just tripped. BUT, I did need a helicopter evac, so thanks to the Arizona Department of Public Safety for the lift (on the house!!).

This isn't gonna slow me down. I got it all fixed, and I've been training through it... so don't get any big ideas. I'll be back in my boat givin' it hell early next week. I'll be more than ready for the Worlds in Halifax this August.
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::WORLD CUP 3 - SZEGED, HUNGARY::

I'm back home!

Firstly, congratulations to my good friend and training partner - Anders Gustafsson (english)- for his awesome performances this weekend in Szeged. Anders won his first World Cup Gold in K1 1000m on Saturday June 6th, Sweden's National Holiday! He made sure everyone knew he wasn't kidding or just going hard for the Yellow 'n Blue by takin' more names in the K1 500m on Sunday... Way to Go Anders! Congrats as well to Ronald Rauhe who was third on Sunday's K1 500m... pleasure being up on the podium with both of you! As always, Hungary proved to the world of canoeing that they throw the best World Cups with literally thousands of fans in the stands screaming and yelling and drumming their brains out. My cousins even drove from Budapest to watch!! Koszonom szepen!!

Canada had a really awesome regatta with great results in all classes, a big shout out to all my teammates who had wicked races... most notably the women's K4, men's K2, men's C2 & C4, and Karen in K1 200m... and everyone!! A big way-to-go to Angus Mortimer for an impressive 4th place in a very classy K1 500m final. Check out the CBC site for a little article about our weekend in Hungary... Have a click on the Canoe4Canada site for the Canoe boys' side of things, and their take on some of their great results!

Time to get to work... see you on the water!

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::VANKAYAK EUROTOUR 09 UPDATE::

A long overdue update! Firstly, I'm happy with my results from World Cup #2 in Poznan, having had good races in both K1 500 and 1000m finals... Poznan puts on a great World Cup every year, thanks for that! My 5km skills need a little work, I need to practice my turns and washriding if I hope to be a contender in that event, Midget 6k was a few years ago, and I don't remember it being quite so fast paced. Hmm.

Team Canada had a great 10 days trainingscamp in Duisburg, Germany (see photo, credit to Bernard "fine grind" Irvin). Team Canada has a perennial presence in the famed Kanu Kapital of Duisburg, regatta or none. Thanks to Horst, Sabine and Otto for taking such great care of us! We even had a chance to check out the Duisburg Zoo on our Sunday off... highlights include Gorilla babies, Corey open-mouth-kissing an Elephant (fo' reals Tiera), Giraffes that were almost as convincing as Gab and Mark in costume, muddy little pygmy Hippos, a kick-ass tiger, and I fed a monkey some candy corn... I hope he doesn't get monkey diabetes.

Now we're in Szeged, Hungary, and day 1 of Vilagkupa number 3 is over! I had a great day of racing, winning my heats in both K1 distances. Tomorrow will be a good day with a semi and final 1000m. (Correction... I earlier posted that the 500m semi was tomorrow as well, whoops, I should check the race card, both 500m semi and final is Sunday...) I think they should have stuck the 1000m semi-finals in this afternoon, but I suppose the guys racing 200 and 1000 would beg to differ, as that might give them 4 races today. But seriously, how many people are racing 200m and 1000m? Whatever, I'll be a good little athlete and do as I'm told... Click on the rad little poster below for the (english) race website... Ati Kati and Natasa are lookin' pretty wicked on there!

Team Canada migrates home on Monday after a long eurotour 09... Check back here for more weekend results!! Go CANADA!!!
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