MICHAEL BOOTH.
ELITE WATERMAN … WORLD CHAMPION.

I was really happy with my preparation coming into M20. Even though it was a short 4 weeks in Perth, with zero wind every day, I felt like I had done enough to have a good race. It always hard bouncing around the world doing different events, distances and crafts but I enjoy the challenge and always do the best I can with the time I have. Normally I would like to do a 3-4month prep for a race like this but its just not possible with my hectic schedule. Coming home after Europe those long miles were tedious but after doing the Surf Ski Molokai with the Shaw and Partners Race Team in late May this year I knew it was a must. I conditioned the body the best I could, I paddled, ran, swam and got the kilometres right up to an exhausting level. It’s pretty lonely out there when doing 40km paddles so it was great to have fellow west Aussie Matt Bowbridge also preparing for his first crossing to join in on some of those long grinds. I was lucky to have Dede, Kristi, Denise and Gary driving me around.

This win will go down as one of the biggest of my career, not necessarily because of the event or the status but because of the distance I was able to put on the best paddlers in the world. Winning by 2minutes + was never my intention all I wanted to do was race with no mistakes and race confidently. And I did just that.

After Bilbao I was a bit disappointed to lose the way I did. I always hate making mistakes but when you do it when it counts it hurts more. But it also really fires you up for the next race and makes you not want that feeling again. I had a really good week of cross training and resting in Hossegor which allowed me to get over some of the travel we had sustained in the past month.

What a race! Sprint finish to the final moment. Bruno got this one but I’m sure we will have many more battles for the years to come.

After Molokai I was pretty exhausted from racing every weekend in different parts of the world. Time zones, cars, planes, hotels, Airbnb’s, admin etc etc… all of it takes a toll mentally and physically. So we decided to go home and reset for a few days before flying to Bilbao. There was some consideration about going back to San Sebastián to race, but I decided it would be wise to have a weekend off (otherwise I would have raced 9 weekends in a row).