The big events of the season have their own specific gravity; time is crushed, exponentially, on itself, until we find ourselves rudely deposited at race registration – bleary eyed, time travellers, not entirely sure where those last weeks of training and preparation went. 2019 is my first Red Bull Defiance. Alex Martin and I are racing as team Barracuda Kayaks. We make a good team, having trained together for a couple of years now – Alex puts up with my exceptional sense of