Last practice before the big days ahead:-)

To day was the last training day before the competitions start tomorrow.

We all got one run down to tune in and and try to perfect our race lines.

The rest of this day we will be resting and getting mentally ready for sprint and H2H.

It will be a long day tomorrow, the bus will pick us up at 6 o'clock ish, and the sprint start for Norway will be at 8.45 local time here in Japan.

link to live streaming is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJM_v9ogF-w

What is race rafting? SPRINT is one out of four disciplines .

The Sprint is a hard, fast, short burst of speed for the teams. It is ideally over a fairly short distance and is about 2 to 3 minutes of hard paddling for 10% ofthe overall points. It is always done first, cannot be on a Class 5 rapid and teams are set off one by one, hence racing the clock and not each other.

The H2H is without doubt the most visually exciting discipline as it is pitting two teams together in a fast paced sprint for the finish line. It is ideally over a shortish distance but must be through a rapid, normally taking teams about 2 to 3 minutes to run the course. The two teams are set off together with the team having the best time in the Sprint being given lane choice. Although the race organisers always try to have the lanes as even as possible this is not easy as a river is so dynamic and changing river levels can also create problems. Ideal locations for a H2H have more than one line through the course allowing teams to overtake. It counts for 20% of the total points and is an elimination race in which pairs of teams race down a section of powerful rapids. The winner of each heat proceeds to the next round and eventually just 2 teams will remain for the Final.