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Joe Clarke at the Liptovsky Tatra Cup We flew out from East Midlands airport on the Sunday evening to Krakow (Poland) with a long drive ahead of us we stayed there overnight. We set of early the next day across the mountains to Slovakia to Liptovsky Mikulas which is where we were going to race and train. I had been there before in 2009 for the Junior European championships, but they were running a different channel so I didn't really know what to expect, we arrived there, the sun was shining the course looked good and we were all excited to go on the course, but we had to wait until the GBR slot which was later in the day, so we went back to the hotel to unpack and settle down.
The first session on the course was definitely testing at the best of times, the course was a lot narrower compared to Nottingham or Lee Valley so took some time to get used to, but progress was made in each session.
The first race day was on Friday just a warm up race for the weekend's qualification, semi and final. With only 7 sessions on the course I didn't really know what to expect.
1st run - My first run was good overall just having one penalty which cost me a few places in the overall ranking but overall I was happy with it.
2nd run- After watching the video with my coach I knew the areas which I needed to improve so I set off the start line a bit more confidently and ended up going into the first upstream slightly too tight, having to lean back, but this was deemed a 50 second penalty by the judges for only having half of my head in the gate. The finish time was slightly faster than my first but with 50 seconds being added on was a lot slower!
Qualifications the course set was still rather technical and you had to make a few decisions with options but it was ok, I knew that if I did a good run I should easily qualify through to the top 40 so the pressure was relatively low, but I still had to produce a solid run.
1st run - mostly good a few time mistakes but once again picking up a 2 second penalty which cost me a few places in the ranking, but I had done enough to get into the semi final.
Semi final - The course was very difficult in places, and certainly took a lot more time to plan and with only top 10 going through to the final, the decisions you made could be crucial.
1st run - I had a solid run until the last move where I lost a few seconds and picked up a penalty, I crossed the finish line not sure if I was going to progress to the final. I had an anxious wait whilst the other competitors finished the course, but I had done just enough to make the final.
Final - I was the first off in the final, with the weather taking a turn for the worst, and the wind increasing I had adapted the plan to paddle around the gates slightly more. I performed a solid run losing a few second again on the final move, but had a clear run.
With the conditions being difficult to race in penalties were going to be costly, some fast times went down in the final but with penalties to be added I held onto 5th place, this being my highest international finish, so a very good start to the international racing season.
A video will be posted soon, so keep looking out! www.joe-clarke.co.uk
(Posted on the 19th May 2011 by Pete) |
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