Ella’s on road to the Olympics

Cook Islands slalom canoeist Ella Nicholas is going through her final preparations as one of five Cook Islands athletes confirmed to compete at the London Olympics.

Nicholas shares her journey to the Olympics via a blog titled ‘My road to the Olympics’ and following is her recent entry from Pau, France date Friday, June 15:

”World cup series begins...

I have arrived back in Pau after one week training in London followed by 5 days in Cardiff for World Cup number one.

I was not happy with how my race in Cardiff went at all and it is safe to say that it is something I am trying to forget and move past as quickly as possible.

The weather in Cardiff was ridiculous causing the first day of racing to be cancelled and then everything got squashed into the next day.

There are a multitude of excuses I could use to explain my disappointing race but instead I am just going to accept it and move on.

In any case Cardiff was a lovely wee city and I hope to get back there someday for more of a look around.

More important than the race however was the arrival of mum (Sue Clarke) in time for Cardiff!

She caught a bus directly from Heathrow to Cardiff city and I picked her up from the station.

It’s so good to have a piece of family here with me – it definitely takes a lot of stress off and gives me an outlet when I’m not in the best mood (I’m not entirely sure if mum appreciates this haha).

We also gained Shaun Higgins from the New Zealand team into our midst and we are all staying together back at the farmhouse in Pau.

The sun is out here and it really is a beautiful place. Racing starts with K1M and C1M qualifications so Shaun and Aaron are at the course already getting sorted for that.

I am relaxing at home as my race isn’t till tomorrow but I will be heading down to support the New Zealand team later on.

Mum and I bought a kilo of fresh cherries at the food market here yesterday and they are all gone already – so delicious!

Kia Manuia. Ella.