THE ROAD TO ATHENS: TIM BRABANTS
16th May 2002by TIM BRABANTS
THE RACING SEASON is now underway and I’ve got off to a reasonable start.
I won the K1 1000m event at our first domestic event – the National Sprint Regatta in mid-April - in a good time, less than 0.5s off the course record. I was pleased with that considering it is still early in the year to be going fast. I also had one of my best K1 500m races for a long time, finishing a close second.
It was then head down and back to training to build up to the first international race of the season – the World Cup Regatta in Mechelen, Germany, at the beginning of May. Unfortunately, I then picked up an illness - tonsillitis – that took me out for a week and was then followed by a heavy cold. All in all I wasn’t able to train for eight days.
Sadly I had to make the decision with my coach not to go to the race abroad. It was a new experience to miss an event through illness but it was the best option for recovery and the quickest route back to full training. The competition was apparently very good so it was also a shame to have missed a quality regatta.
I'm pretty much better now and back to proper training again. I have another domestic regatta this weekend and then a selection race in June for the next international.
Hopefully the rest of the season will run more smoothly after a bit of an up and down start!