Citroen Extreme Race

After a steller week on the coast we headed down to Queenstown to the Kawarau River for the Citroen race. Citroen is a class 4+ big water rapid which is super fun to race down with a line choice between the easier but slightly slower right line around the big boulder at the top or the fast and tricky left line which if you stuff up can see you getting pounded against the wall in a big recirculating eddy. First off you have the time trial which despite taking a roll I still had a pretty quick run down ending up seeded 15th. Then it goes to the Head to Head racing.
Looking at the draw I saw my number was up against #2, which turned out to be wills!
Winning the paper sissors rock at the top I had the good start and got a bit of a lead on wills, heading left while he headed right. Nailed my line through the left but hit a wave and took a roll, missed it and tried again getting it, luckily, because I was already out of breath. Looking behind I was still slightly in front of wills, then got smashed by another wave , ripping my paddle out of my hand and sending me back under. Rolling up I saw wills was sitting on my tail and we were coming up to the finishing gate. I quickly sprinted as hard as I could and just managed to take the gate before wills.
Next race was against Ben, a quick coast boater. I had the bad start position and as soon as I pulled off the start ramp Ben was already sprinting his way down to the start of the rapids. He had a perfect race and kept a decent lead on me the whole way knocking me out.
Finals was Brad vs Jamie and in a suprise race Jamie managed to take the win with brad in the lead most of the race. It was a quiet party with most of the competitors pretty tired out and we headed back to Okere falls at 10.30pm driving for 20 hours to be back here by 6.30pm the next day!