Today's my birthday, and thanks so much for the birthday song this morning. Wasn't feeling very good (due to overtraining) and that really cheered me up.

My birthday wish this year isn't something personal, but it does have some relevance to the team. Like bernard said, we do have a chance of winning, and I'm not going to say whether we will or not, that's up to us to decide. We can do it.

For those taking part in this year's nationals: train hard. For those not doing so: train even harder. Don't think that just because you aren't doing so now allows you to slack off; we can't afford to do that. What's your individual goal for canoeing? We discussed that during the canoeing camp in March, and three months have passed since. Have they changed? Have they remained the same? Get your goal worked out and trust me, like what I experienced today, even under the most painful circumstances, that goal will galvanise your spirits and make you row faster and harder.

Let's go for our goal, let's go for gold.