Thank goodness my exams are all over - now I can focus on more important things like training 

It's been a hard month with cold weather and lots of long sessions on the road and in the boat. Getting up at 4:30 in the morning in the freezing cold is tough enough, but paddling and portaging in the dark with sleet and snow can lead to a major sense of humour failure! I know the Europeans would tell me to harden up, but this is Africa and its meant to be warm!

My training is definitely on track and it's now the count down to SA Champs and the trial for World Champs on 12th August. I'm really lucky as this year the champs will be held on a dam close by to me. I have been training at the venue and have the advantage of home ground  The portage is a jetty take out to resemble the World Champs course. This is new to me as we tend to only do a beach take out. It still feels a little slow, but I have practised hard and it is slowly coming right. You can't really win a marathon race on the portage, but you can definitely loose the race if you make a mistake. So practise, practise and practise again! We start a series of races on the course from 3rd July which will lead up to the KZN Marathon Champs and then onto SA Champs. So lots of racing coming up which should see me peak at the right time.

My new boat from Plastex, Poland has made it as far as Heathrow Airport, UK. So it is nearly here!! I am so excited - I have organised with Brandon van der Walt (Junior World Champion) to help me fit pumps in the boat and then its all systems go. I already feel like I am flying in my sprint boat, so the lighter weight marathon boat will be awesome.

Thank you for your support - Next month I will have some news about my racing - Bring it on!

Luv
Ems

Emma Horner is a Garmin Gtribe ambassador.