About the cover

This photo of Charlie Nguyen (above) of France was taken at the Adidas Sickline Extreme Kayak World Championships at Oetztal, Tirol, Austria on October 06 and we loved how it captured his emotions. The event, held every October for the past ten years, sees paddlers compete for the coveted world title. A "sick line" is the perfect, smoothest and fastest line downriver, and that's what competitors have to find. New Zealand has been the dominating nation for the past 10 years. Kiwi Sam Sutton (pictured right) took out the top honours this year and is responsible for over half of the Kiwi medal haul over the past ten years!