NZ number 1 Aaron Osborne and Mike Dawson, left France straight after Luuka finished her run on Sunday, to drive across Europe to the next World Cup.  Our slalom kayakers discovered too much water when they arrived in Bratislava, and that the possibility that the regatta could be canceled! 

There had been significant rainfall in Western Europe, particularly in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Both countries flow into the river Danube which is where the artificial slalom course is.

This has caused the course to be closed for all of this week. The Kiwi kayaksers were planning to go to Prague or Munich to train, but both of these courses were flooding also! After some thought by the organising committee, they have confirmed the race will be on.  Aaron said at the time, "It will be interesting to see what will happen. The course normally has a challenging 4m drop at the end right where your arms are screaming with lactate.  At the moment there is no drop, just flat water. We still haven't been on the course however, and we will get two practice sessions, one Thursday and one Friday".  

There are only a few kiwis lining up for the start of World Cup 2, with the Junior Team training the week in France.

 
Mike Dawson and Louise Jull are looking forward to racing here having spent about 6 weeks at the location earlier in the European summer.  Luuka and Aaron are looking forward to getting back on the whitewater as they suffer some withdrawals from the white water.

Latest is that the rivers have returned to normal and the regatta is now..