More dollars for Dawson | Bay of Plenty Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Bay of Plenty

Tauranga kayaker Mike Dawson is preparing for a huge fortnight with two big extreme whitewater events on both sides of the Atlantic.

And he's warmed up in the best possible way, winning the kayaking four-cross at the Slovenian outdoor show in Bovec last week.

Dawson, who dominated the European extreme scene last year, collected about  $2000 in Slovenia, which will help fund his upcoming racing schedule.

"The event was limited to 32 entries with four paddlers battling it out to be the first to the bottom, and the first two going through to the next round," Dawson said.

"It makes for an intense day of racing with hard whitewater and brutal competition but it was great fun."

His next stop is the Teva Mountain Games in Vail, Colorado, where he'll spend eight days filming and racing among 30,000 other extreme athletes.

He'll then head back to Europe for the Italian version of the Teva games, before concentrating on his whitewater slalom World Cup events in France, Slovakia and Germany.