Kristin's report from the World Marathon Race in Portugal

" We arrived in Lisbon, Portugal after a long day and a half of travelling. Surprisingly, the weather was just like home! We temporarily got settled into our hotel and then decided to do some sightseeing. We took a tour around Lisbon, or Lisboa as the Portuguese call it, and learned about some of the amazing historic monuments and buildings around town. On Monday morning we met up with some of the other paddlers and began our three hour drive to Porto. The scenery was really interesting because of numerous ruins of ancient buildings along the way. As we approached Porto I was so happy I wasn’t the one driving! Every exit from a highway led to another highway, and the signs were nearly impossible to figure out. After a few misinterpretations of signs and a few wrong turns, we managed to make it to the hotel.
The next morning we drove to Crestuma, a town with a population of only 3,000 people, to see the course. The setting was quite spectacular at the river with a significant dam at the end of the course. We had to get all our boats set up for racing so we put handles on the boats to be able to carry them during the portage, and fit foot pumps in to be able to empty them while racing. The course was a 4-km lap with a 150 metre portage, with the first bit of the portage being uphill.
The first two days of racing were Masters’ K1 and K2’s, which was really inspiring to watch, especially when some of the age categories were 70+. I hope that I’m in similar shape when I am that age! Our Canadian Masters Team won a total of 3 medals in their races. The following days were Junior, U23, and Senior races, each category racing different distances. As my race was approaching, I was slowly starting to get more nervous, but excited at the same time. I watched my teammate Kiran, race directly before me and that helped to prepare me a bit more for what to expect right off the start and during the portages. After all last-minute final preparations, I was on the water warming up to race. I lined up with twenty other girls on the starting dock, and with a “READYGO” at 11:45am we were off! Although I wasn’t completely ready when the start was called, I managed to get off the line successfully. One of my biggest worries of the race – the start – was over. My next focus was on the portage and making sure I could get out of my boat and get back in smoothly, which I was able to do. The next four laps of the race I did on my own as I was out of touch from a wash-riding group. Mentally it was tough to keep going at a good pace, but I managed to fight through it. Surprisingly, I quite enjoyed all the portages in the race. They gave me an extra boost to keep working through the race and they all went much smoother than I expected! Although I crossed the finish line completely exhausted, marathon racing is definitely something I plan to continue doing in the future to learn how much further I can push myself.
The next day was the day I was most looking forward to, the Senior events with our fellow B.C. paddler, Ian MacKenzie racing Senior Men’s K1. Many of us had heard how amazingly fast his portages were and he certainly didn’t disappoint! It was amazing to watch him demonstrate his expertise, skill and speed throughout the race.
Overall, the entire experience in Portugal having the opportunity to race at the Marathon World Championships was unforgettable and I look forward to more exciting marathon racing in the future!"
Pictures: Portugal_Photos_Kristin.docx