www.mikedawson.co.nz: Mayhem, carnage, sick times, 12 months on the road..

Celebrating with the crew

The 2011 season has been a sick ride! From Sickline in 2010 where I blew chunks after qualifying first for the semi-final I have been to 22 countries, 40 races, driving thousands of kilometers, flown countless hours and had a hell of a time.

A sick ski day pre Sickline

Since Sickline in 2010 I've tried to step up my racing game a bit. I flew to USA to try and redeem myself in extreme racing by entering into the 2010 Green River Narrows race and the Russel Fork race at the last minute. My USA trip was a rush of mayhem and amazing whitewater.

Getting some stitches between races on the Banks of the Green River

The only way to get both boats out after the race - Towing the Mystic off Sunshine..

I stopped off in my sponsors headquarters Teva, in Santa Barbra for a few days to check out where they come from, have a surf, throw some weights around with the gym junkies on Santa Monica beach and see Jack Johnson live.

The Green Race went entirely to plan apart from the 6 stitches I received mid run thanks to the lovely Dr Jodi. I came in just ahead of local boy Isaac Livingston. This doubled up the race the weekend before at the Russel Fork - where the true read and run style paddling was put into place. A brutal 6minute race down rapids called the maze made it impossible for me to remember where to go from the morning warm up lap. 2 awesome rivers, and sick races! I will be back..

After our boats got nicked we did some surf skiing - Photo Jamie Troughton

Mexico was calling, and while I stopped in the southern states it seems logical to travel a few more hours south to Mexico, the home of Rafa Ortez. Beautiful and dangerous is all I can say. The Alseseca drops straight off the side of the mountains making it a mecca for waterfall lovers, but it also bring it's own style of classic kayaking! We experienced 2 weeks of pure heaven before flying up up and away.

Pre-Olympic Games training London - Photo Ciaran Heurteau

The NZ Summer was epic. Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain… This kept the rivers pumping high - But for me it was time to turn my attention to the slalom season - and put my creek boat away.

Citreon Extreme Race about to get owned by Jamie Sutton..

Wearing red in Kawerau.... NZ Nationals 2010 with Martina.

With 3 months out of my slalom boat - I was pretty rusty… I struggled through team selections which motivated me to push a bit harder in the pre-season training with the unusually high water continuously. A few trips to Australia to paddle at the Whitewater Course in Penrith and suddenly it was time to get back on that airplane and head north.

Pre-Party Kanu Messe..

Before the European slalom season began I headed to Vail Colorado for the Teva Mountain Games. I didn't race well here in 2010 finishing 7th, so I was buzzing to throw down.

Teva Extreme Outdoor Games 2011 rocking the new Teva Colors.

I arrived with Martina a few days before the event to get a few training laps on the "Home Stake Rapid" A manky tricky technical rapid, all set in an altitude of 10000ft. It's hard to race down this. I raced as good as I could and Honza Lasko created an unbelievable result finishing 1st equal on the 3minute 30 course. A few more events and some needed prize money and it was direct to Italy for the European equivalent of this event. Another 4 days of hard hits and stiff muscles and I lucked out backing up this title for the 2nd year in a row.

Finally getting the kiwi 1 - 2 in Italy
The first of the Extreme races over, and I headed for Tacen, Slovenia - the first of the ICF Slalom World Cups. With Olympic selection on the line in 2011, everyone brought their game face. I surprised myself having only stepped from my creaking kayak a week before by taking a place in the final of the World Cup - My first in a big race. After getting ill I skipped a world cup and recovered in the mountains of Slovakia, heading to London immediately after for the Pre-Olympic Test Event.

A very tight qualification at the Slalom Worlds in Bratislava this year. 4 sec from 1st to 4oth...

This is the only international slalom race on the Olympic course in London before the games - everyone seemed to come from out of the woodwork to attend this race. My buddy Vavra Hradilek showed his class taking out the title - I finished in 16th, just 0.3 seconds from the vicious qualifying cut. The European Extreme racing championships were next on the hit list. Set in the mountains in Czech Republic it was an absolutely amazing environment for a race. The Czech boys' put on a sick race, and I came away with my first European Extreme Kayak Championship crown.

The World Championships for slalom and Olympic Selections seemed to roll around so fast, it was as though the last 4 years since Beijings selection never happened.

I'd had amazing training in Bratislava - getting as much quality time on the water - I had my best Slalom World Championships yet, although my run wasn't as sick as I would have liked I finished in 16th, picking up an Olympic spot for New Zealand, and as our Olympic policy says "whoever gets the spot keeps the spot" meant that I'd now have the opportunity to represent New Zealand in the London Olympics in 2012! I was stoked.

A low key bottle of moet after the race in SVK with Jane'o

This left only 3 weeks before I would be sitting where I was 12 months before at Sickline where I had an epic blow out. I found it hard to fire up, after the world championships - but the Sickline was a title I wanted to claim. Sam Sutton proved he owns the river in Oetz with faultless runs leaving me in 2nd place but rounding up an epic 2011-2012 season.