Race Results

So my State Championship race was yesterday, it is now all done and dusted. I have to say it went okay, although the day didn't exactly start off to plan.

I woke up with my lat still sore and I wasn't sure I should even start the race, particularly after the warm up when it really tightened up. A bit of massage from a friend helped though and it seemed to free up enough to at least try. I was still pretty uncertain about it though.

Off the line the sore lat meant I started off a bit tentatively and so missed the lead pack.I then spent the next 5km mostly pushing my own water, hurting a lot and not making any headway into the lead group. At that stage I was pretty sure that was going to be my race done. Paddling is like cycling, it is very hard for a person paddling solo to pull in a group working well together. At about a third through the race it wasn't going particularly well and I wasn't in a great mental place.

However, even at that point, I knew deep down that I was really fit and so there was a chance I could get back into the race, I just needed to be patient, keep up the effort and have faith in the training, which is what I did.

After about 7km the race finally started to turn for me (the race was 18km total). We hit some rough water and that forced the lead pack to slow down and break up a little bit. I kept the pace on and before I knew it I made some real headway into group. By about 12km I was sitting in a group of three in third, fourth and fifth position (first and second having cleared off).

From there the final 6km was about staying with those guys, getting a good position and making sure nobody caught us up. Even coming into the final few kms I was feeling okay but didn't think I would be able to paddle over the guys I was with as they were also paddling strongly.

However, coming around the last corner and into the final few hundred metres, as we picked up the pace for the line I found that I was still feeling really strong and so was able to squeeze half a length in front and then hold it there. I have never been very good at sprint finishes, so I was stoked to be able hold one together for once.

Holding on to the line mean that I managed to sneak across the line for 3rd place, a result I am pretty darn stoked about. The training has been going really well lately and I feel like I have been paddling strongly, but I didn't think it would be enough for a third place in the State Championships. If you had told me that result even just a couple of months ago, I don't think I would have believed it. At the same time, it was really nice to put together a race that I think reflects where I am currently at fitness wise

If I am honest I know there were one or two key paddlers missing from the race, and Standup Paddle boarding is very niche sport, but you know what, I don't really care at this stage. I am pretty darn happy with my result so I am definitely going to claim it.