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Taking on the Ocean Ski World Series 2015

  • End of the World Series 2015

      26 November 2015
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    Well, what a year it has been.

    On the eve of the last world series race, which is in Perth, this saturday, which also is a title race (1 of the 5 out of the 18 world series races) as well as australian champs.

    This year has been a struggle since june to be honest.

    I have basically been consistently sick and or burn out.

    Unfortunately World Champs in tahiti, i was sick for 2 weeks before and after with influenza, the month before I had a cold leading into the Poor Knights, and now on the eve of the last race, I am on antibiotics fighting a throat infection.

    Oh well, what can I do.

    I currently sit 49th on the World Rankings following 22nd, 16th, 24th, 92nd, 18th places in my world series races. (off the top of my head, there or there about)

    So if I can do reasonable this weekend I hope to push my ranking into the top 30 in the world.

    The silver lining is I have gained huge experience, and now know what racing the best is like and what I need to do to be competitive.

    Those results do not reflect my best performance yet, so the next tim I take on the series fingers crossed I can show my true potential as well as improve lots between now and then.

    The main negative is the amount of money I have spent on being at races and being sick, big bummer. My predictions of $20,000 at the beginning of the year was probably an underestimate of my costs, so I thank you all who have supported myself and each to chasing the series this year.

    We have big individual plans going forward, Rachel will be tackling Molokai next year, and I look to be successful in the series and world champs in 2 years time.

    Wish us luck for the last race of the year this saturday!

    And again, thank you for all your support.

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  • June Update

      28 June 2015
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    Thought it was about time for another update.

    This month has been massive for mine and partner Rachel Clarkes fundraising campaign. For me it started with Spark, matching all donations dollar for dollar for a period which was a massive boost!!

    It also had the Quiz night and the Raffle draw last weekend which from all reports was a fun night for all that attended, and also helped us raise a little more for those local supporters.

    I must say now that is is over I am a little relieved as I have never had to organise something like that before and i was surprised at the work that goes into it! I must also thank all the sponsors/supporters that helped out with prizes/food etc for the night, could not have done it without you.

    Only a few weeks until we leave for the USA section of the World Series so I have decided July will all be about training and focussing on that, and thus have decided I will be ending this page on the 1st of July to have total focus on the goal ahead.

    So thank you all to those who have donated, as you can see it has reached an awesome amount which should cover the majority of expenses for the USA leg which is truly amazing!!!

    Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

    Sam

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  • Winter Blues - Spark My Potential

      9 June 2015
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    Hi all you fantastic sponsors,

    A couple of things to update on,

    Firstly Spark have added me to the 'Spark My Potential List' which means currently, every donation, is then matched by Spark, this will keep going until a maximum of 20 donations or $2000 in donations occurs (whichever comes first). This is amazing from the team at Spark, and makes such a massive difference, I will most certainly be following the pages they add to their Spark My Potential List in the future to help out. It is also a time if you know anyone that might be keen to donate, then now is the ideal time, as their donation is essentially worth double to me!!!!

    In other news, since my last update it has been a bit of a struggle which I've called the Winter Blues. The combination of Starship Oncology, fundraising, Paeds Diploma and training caught up on me a bit and i must say I burnt out a bit.

    I have since moved onto a rotator position at starship which is actually a much more stress free job compared to full time oncology so that helps. I have also made massive inroads into my 2 Diploma assignments which puts that stress at bay for a bit.

    I still had to take a week off training last week to recover and make sure I didn't fully burn out leading into the next World Series race.

    It was also a valuable time to assess things with my GP, which is always helpful for myself to get a outside opinion.

    For the next two months plus I will be watching my weight daily (as I think I lost too much to quick), measuring my morning HRV which is an interesting new objective tool in body recovery, and overall trying to get the best balance to train the best I can given my position with work/uni.

    Anyway, fingers crossed for me I don't get too many miserably cold nights on the water, or for that matter in my room at the flat as it is freezing, holes in the roof and not much insulation, brrrrrrrrrrr.

    Look after yourself this winter!

    Sam

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  • 1st Update - May 2015

      15 May 2015
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    Firstly, thank you to all those that have sponsored so far. I am truly thankful for those that have made the time to complete the process which can be quite quick, but with the busy lives that we all lead can be enough to act as a deterrent.

    This weekend will be the 10 and 11 week out mark from the World Series Races in the USA. - North American Champs, Hood River, and USA Champs, San Francisco.

    Which means a much more focussed build up begins in training, and generally a lot more pain and suffering on the water haha, which is actually awesome once the session is done!

    It will be a tough time as Ive struggled with energy and stress levels the last few months balancing new work life in Paediatrics in Starship, The Paediatric Diploma, Training, and fundraising which involves this page but also a few local events such as a quiz night.

    The key will be basically doing the best I can, whilst getting enough sleep and recovery and trying not to get too stressed, much easier said than done but one can only try.

    More specifically to paddling, In just over 2 weeks time will be the first of the Auckland Winter SurfSki and SUP series. a lot of the local talent were really firing last year in these events so I'm expecting some in form paddlers whose main races this year will be these races. The result will not be important this time around for me as its really the 1st step in getting the body and mind back into race mode and fitness but I'm competitive by nature, so will be gunning for a good result.

    Thats probably enough of a blurb/update for now, again thank you so much to those that have donated! If you know anyone or any group/business that would like to help out with my cause, feel free to send them the link and spread the word on social media.

    Sam

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