New season's opening!

October is here and summer vacation is over, even for those who dare to extend it through September.

The last two weekends, Team's representatives found themselves back to the familiar waters of Upper Lousios and Alfios.
Our invitation to celebrate the new paddling season with a river bbq gathered the usual suspects and some new friends by the camping fires.

On Saturday morning, our "we need no warming up - class III is for losers" couple, Spyros and Mary, together with "I 'm running for president of TEAMadara - I need all the votes I can get" Konidis and his "evening training buddy" Pavlos, paddled Upper Lousios to arrive late - as always - to our take out rendez-vous.
The Team's "losers" Nikos, Neni and Haris with special guests Nikos (The Kayaker) and Vaso (well known slalom racer), accompanied by the "Upper Lousios guides" Pavlos and Konidis, loounched one more time into lower Lousios and the familiar stretches of Alfios.

Konidis and Neni posing for my camera (left) and "Kayaker" while catching a small surf in lower Lousios

By the camp fire, noone was missing. Especially when Dimitris Thomopoulos arrived late but bringing some extra beer and sausages with him. Even the ones that was supposed to be here or those who would posibly join us the next day, it was like they were indeed present... meening that we were talking all night about them (and how funny they can be!!)

The next morning, after realising that the ones we were expecting for another lower Lousios run, were having their morning cofee, not at cafe Vrenthi in Karytaina but somewhere in Glyfada, Athens, we decided to take our time since we would finally run only the upper part.

As Pavlos and Neni decided to run shuttle instead of paddling, our team of five would be quite fast.

Konidis's plot to get me out of his way, continued by trying to nail me in a vertical pin, by pointing me the worst possible line, at the very first rapid. Pavlos told me afterwards that he did the same with him yesterday!!
Anyway, I will remember that attitude when I will hold the safety rope in a more "dirty" rapid!

The "waterfall" rapid was once again dangerous to run, forning a deadly siphon at it's left wall. But the class IV rapid after the "unrunable" stretch, powerful and technical, awarded us with nice, happy-ended lines.br> The two playspots were also alive, offering Dimitris a chance to throw some ends and myself the answer at the question of whether being overweighted is a plus in aerial moves!

Athens olympics are over!

Olympic and Paralympic games are over and the athenians are slowly but surely returning to their pre-olympic every day lifes, the city roads get more crowded every day and only the new athletic venues stay there to remind us the "glorious" days.

Remarcable venues but with no present and nothing more than uncertain future. The canoe kayak slalom facilities that we proudly built to host the olympic slalom and that everyone admitted as the greatest facilities so far, proved to be extremely expensive to operate. So expensive that is questionable if it would be available to small sport clubs or recreational paddlers.

Lets hope that I am too pecimist and that wont be the case after all.

• for Archive News 1 - June-October 2003 go here
  
• for Archive news 2 - November-December 2003 go there
• for Archive news 3 - January February 2004 go there
• for Archive news 4 - March-April 2004 go there
• for Archive news 5 - May 2004 go there
• for Archive news 6 - June-Sept 2004 go there
• for Global news, go there
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