Kiran at the World Marathon Champs in Portugal

"We flew into Lisbon, Portugal on Sunday morning and did a bit of sightseeing there before driving to Porto on Monday afternoon. The city is fairly old with cobblestone roads and beautiful monuments everywhere.

For the first few days there, until we raced, we got our boats organized and fitted with pumps. We got out on the water a couple of times and tried a few portages to get rid of the kinks before race day.

The race course was on the river, Drouro, that past through a small village in Crestuma and was surrounded by beautiful green hills. It almost felt like home with all the greenery...asides from the slight language barrier! On Wednesday and Thursday we were able to watch the masters race in both K1 and K2 which was a good way to get a feel for just how intense this competition is! We were able to watch some of the do's and don'ts of exiting your boat and then re-entry off the beach! Watching the masters race made me hope that i can be as fit as they are and still compete when i get older. Friday morning finally rolled in and my race was set to start at 9:33am just after the Junior Men's K1. I could definitely feel the nerves starting to kick in! I went out for warm up and started seeing some of the girls in my race...they were big! Well, big in comparison to me which isn't hard to do. We lined up against the dock and had people holding our boats in place off the start. I was told before i got on the water that the start was VERY quick!

The start isn't close to the same as sprint kayaking. You don't get any warning that's for sure! The starter simply calls boat numbers to move up or back and suddenly says, "READYGO!!" Literally one word. I had a bit of a slow start because I wasn't as prepared for that first stroke as I could've been. I ended up finishing 19th out of 23 girls which i was happy with. I had a fairly smooth race asides from one entry on the beach where i tipped and had to empty my boat. It was my first time at Marathon Worlds so i wasn't sure what to expect. I'm looking forward to training and working on my portages and endurance for Marathon Worlds next year. After my race was finished, i was able to kick back and enjoy the rest of the races. My favourite race had to be Senior Men's K1. In the past, I've heard how well Ian Mackenzie has done in marathon kayaking. However, just hearing that, you can't fully understand just how amazing and quick he is! I was excited to be able to see him race finally and cheer him on! Some of the top finishers in the senior men's race, which consists of racers age 24+, were 40+ years old and they were beating the young guns! It inspired me to start preparing for next years Worlds in Spain. Overall it was an amazing trip and i look forward to more marathon competitions in the future. "

Below pictures of the Senior K1 Race:

Ian

The lead pack