The British team for the world cups 1&2 consisted of Kerry and Emma Christie in WC2 and WK1. Competing in MK1 were Alex Sheppy, Freddie Brown and (yours truly) Nick Boreham. Andrew (the Crow) Crowhurst raced MC1. Billy Blackman along with Helen and Jamie Christie made up the coaching and support staff volunteers.

The sun had already set when we emerged from Skopje airport. A heat wave over the southern Balkans had brought the daytime temperature up to 40⁰ in North Macedonia, and in the evenings it showed little sign of abating.

There, in the car park to meet us was the inconspicuous blue bus, subtly plastered with large Union Jacks on every available surface. The bus and trailer had once again made the long journey all the way from the UK, this time bravely piloted by a crew of Helen, Jamie and Billy. As they greeted us they carried a warning: It was only going to get hotter, and that we would be sleeping in a 5 star gulag.

This year’s world cup races would be held in Veles, just a short hours drive from Skopje the host of last year’s European Champs. Our ‘gulag’ was buried somewhere within the centre of the city. In truth we were not staying in a gulag but rather a local boarding school. But, between the squat bogs, concrete communist architecture and rows of beds, to untrained eyes the differences were somewhat negligible. The school was kindly playing host to us, the Australians and the Serbians. The other teams however, had turned down the offer.

We awoke in the morning, sweaty, from something resembling sleep and departed for the river. Through Veles the Vadar River is quite flat. So flat that both Sheppy and Freddie opted to paddle without a deck. The flat course had drawn a little bit of flack from the international community, questioning how ‘wild’ the racing would really be. But, to Veles’ credit, by the time we finished our second run a digger had appeared in the river near the finish. As we paddled past it was busy constructing a rapid. By competition time this, combined with some well timed releases from Matka produced some reasonable waves to race on.

Dinner at the gulag was included for all the residents. Although, to our surprise, we Brits found ourselves squirreled away in our ‘private dinning area’. Maybe, it was Helen’s buttering up of the staff, maybe they thought we’d get in a brawl with the Aussies, or maybe they just wanted to contain the spread of vegetarianism. Either way, the room was one of the few places with Aircon, and we weren’t complaining!

Breakfast consisted of bread, cheese and meat but steadily tended towards cornflakes as the kitchen staff grew to understand the British palate.

Lunch and dinner both followed the same pattern. A bowl of ‘probably chicken soup’, a side salad with varying ratios of cabbage to cucumber, and a main of ‘mostly meat’. Veggie options were perhaps not inspiring, but as far as I can tell the kitchen staff bent over backwards trying (regardless Kerry is quite a fussy eater).

I don’t really know whether our menu at the school qualified as ‘tradional Macedonian’. But, assuming it does, Macedonian dishes largely seem to consist of ‘two meat and one veg’. A dramatic departure from the British classic of ‘one meat and two veg’. It must be said though the Macedonians do cook good meat.

In addition to being a tad flat, the other downside to the river was the smell. While I’m not well versed on the ins and outs of the Veles sewage system, it would appear that most of it just seems to be dumped straight in the river. Again this is a stark departure from the UK where we pay an ever increasing amount for water companies to pretend to process sewage before dumping it into our waterways. So as in Ceske Budjovice, as in Nottingham we were on strict sanitation protocols, coating ourselves in hand sanitizer the second we got out of the river.

Fortunately these protocols worked to great effect, which was a massive relief as nobody fancied a ‘bum-wee’ on the squat bogs. Well, nobody except for Billy, who got ill on the last day.

Despite the efficacy of the protocols, in an effort not to try our luck, we retreated to lake Mladost for a day. Located just to the north of Veles, lake Mladost is set in a scenic location between the hills that doesn’t stink of shit. The lake boasts fishing, swimming spots, a spa and makes an excellent 4km loop to paddle around. Be warned though, it can get hot out there and when the wind picks up in the afternoon it can get Bumpier than the Vadar!

As always on a river racing trip the time flew, and before you knew it the digger had finished construction and it was time for the opening ceremony. We caught up with our friends from the other nations and settled in for the celebrations. Last year the Macedonian open ceremony scored a 10/10 because we all got big comfy seats to sit in. This year we were outside in an amphitheatre, slightly less cushionned but equally seated. The ceremony featured a cracking live band, confused but charming dances from the local primary school and some surprise fireworks, that definitely wouldn’t have passed UK health and safety regs. Another 10/10.

Saturday was sprint day. Usual format, 2 heats in the morning, finals in the evening (mercifully avoiding the midday sun). The first heat went well, Kerry made the top 5 in WK1 to move straight through to be followed by the Crow in C1 and the Christie C2. Sheppy, narrowly missed out on a top 5 spot but promisingly all the senior MK1 (yours truly included) made the top 15.

This promise was fulfilled in the second Heat when all three of the MK1 qualified to the final. Emma also qualified in the the WK1, making this the first time all British Boats and all British Paddlers had made it to the sprint finals! For nearly everyone on the team this was our first senior sprint final and the sense of jubilation on the bus was palpable as we headed back for lunch.

The afternoon saw the Balkan Championship taking place, into which Jamie and Billy, our coaches were entered. We watched the livestream, safe from the sun in the gulag as Jamie took 2nd and Billy took 1st, making the British the fastest Balkans.

Sprint finals started at 18:00. Late enough that the trees were mercifully casting some shade onto the river, but not late enough for the midday heat to have dissipated. It seemed the water from Matka had failed to arrive and the river had dropped from what it had been during the heats. Freddie and I stood on the bridge warily eyeing the level and debating whether the lower flow now favoured the frenchie middle line or wether our previous left line was still the best line.

Kerry stuck to her guns powering down the left line to take an incredible third place with Emma less than half a second behind in 11th. The Crow took 7th in C1M down the left. But above in the warm up area Freddie and I were still debating. I still didn’t know which line I was going to take as I lined up for the start. Ahead of me Lazarov (Macedonia) went left, Marien (Belgium) went middle. Fuck it I’m going middle too.

I’d done it once in practice (although not very well) and I knew I wouldn’t beat most of the paddlers there in a straight head to head race, so why not take a gamble on a different line? A hail Mary. Death or Glory!

I nailed it, avoiding the worst of the waves and settling into a final position of 12th, my best ever sprint result. Freddie also placed a bet on the middle, taking a slightly different line to finish 10th. But it was Alex Sheppy, placing his faith on the left that took our best result.

He crossed the line into 1st place. Unable to breath. 5 paddlers left to go. Perilously close to a podium. Freddie and I rafted up to Alex to count in the paddlers. Ciotoli (ITA) into 2nd, Sheppy is still in 1st. Montulet (BEL) into 4th, Sheppy is still in 1st. Nejc Znidarcic (SLO), the legend of the the sport, 1st. Sheppy is now in 2nd, only 0.21 seconds behind Nejc, but there are still 2 paddles left.

Linus Bolzern (SUI) crosses the line into 3rd. Alex has done it, he’s guaranteed a medal. Doreau (FRA) slips into 2nd by just 0.02 seconds to give Alex the Bronze. It’s the first British senior mens podium in over 12 years. As Jamie gives Alex the obligatory post-race interview he struggles to hold back the tears. By the time Alex reaches the bus he’s a blubbering mess. “Happy tears are good tears” is the message as phones start pinging with congratulation messages, completely overshadowing Alex’s sister’s engagement earlier that day.

The fun didn’t stop there. Kerry and Emma still had their C2 sprint to go. They’d qualified in 2nd place just 0.20 seconds behind the French pair, a gap we knew they could close. We lined the bank screaming at the top of our lungs: “UP, UP, UP, UP”, begging them to rag it as hard as possible across the long flat section at the top of the course.

Success. The girls crossed the line a full 1.30 seconds ahead of 2nd. “It’s a gold for Grand Britannia!” As the night grew in we were blinded by the Union Jack (sans saltire) projected behind the podium. Celebrations were short and sweet though, because tomorrow was classic day.

I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again: Classics are my jam.
However, in the baking heat, even I was nervous about what was to come. That morning we’d departed the gulag for the final time and were now counting down the minutes in the inferno that was the quarry which doubled as the classic start. Hiding in the only available shade we chatted shit with Linus and Nejc laughing over the conspicuous ‘toy’ jutting out from the wall. “It is probably for the Italian C1, extra connection to the boat!”.

I doused my t-shirt in the water before getting on in a vain attempt to keep cool. The classic would be roughly 15/16 minutes long and could easily be decided on how quickly everyone caught heat stroke. I did my best to keep my ‘warm up’ to the shade. Before I knew it I was on the start line and then I was away.

As I rounded the first bend I could spy Ljubomir, Mr Macedonia himself in the distance, and I could taste blood. I dug deep telling myself to pick it up every 10 to 20 paddle strokes. I caught him by the Island, a little over half way and then it was just a case of desperately holding onto the speed until the end. As I approached the finish every sinew was screaming, my ears were ringing and I thought my heart was about to burst through my rib cage. Up, up, up.

“You looked strong across the line” said Jamie. I didn’t feel strong, I could barely make the eddy at the end, but that’s a good sign. It was hot, unbearably hot and I struggled to string sentences together as Jamie gave me the interview.
“Do you know where you came?”
“No.”
“10th” – My best international result to date.

Alex and Freddie were close behind 12th and 13th respectively while the Crow took 5th in MC1. In the WK1 Emma broke the top 10 to make 9th and Kerry took home a well earned silver medal. But that clearly wasn’t enough as when the Christie sisters went for round 2 in the WC2 they demolished the French and Czech crews to take another gold. This time by over 19 seconds.

That brought the medal total for the weekend to:
2 bronze, 1 silver and 2 golds. Not too shabby!

If I’m allowed to be serious for a moment, I’d like to thank the Macedonians, the city of Veles, and the local school for hosting us and a great competition!

Now onto world cups 3&4!