K2 1000m A final Szeged 2011

The crowd in Szeged was like nothing I have ever experienced. It really cant be compared with anything I have ever seen at a competition. The fans are incredibly enthusiastic, loud, and full of character. Actually the whole thing looks more like a giant beach party then anything else. 

On day 2 of the World Championships Jen and I raced in the K2 1000m A final,  the conditions were great for us a stiff head wind and a late afternoon start (we have discovered that we prefer racing later in the day).  Going through boat control on the way to the water was a little nerve racking for me, mostly because I was in the situation where I was out of the boat and forced to look up and across at most of the girls.  When I am in the boat I tend not to notice the disparity in height and width between myself and the competition. Even though I know that its the strength to weight ratio which is important in kayaking, I definitely had a few moments of “how on earth can I compete against those girls”!

We went through our warm up and were in the starting gate before I knew it. Ready. Set. the gate goes down and we’re off. We had a typical start for us meaning we let everyone have a good head start before we start chasing them down (we are working on that), once we got up to speed the boat was moving well, we kept up the pace working through the wind,  leaving everything out on the course. At the 250m mark there was a deafening roar, the noise was completely overpowering and almost physically pushing you, it was the crowd. The roar lasted all the way through the finish. It was by far the coolest thing I have experienced in a competition. 

Our goal in the K2 this year was to make the A Final at the World Championships in the 1000m event, we accomplished what we set out to do this year and can build from there for next season.

Day 1 Worlds Championships 2011

Day 1 of the World Championships in szeged started off a bit rough. We felt flat in the K4 and were knocked out in the heats, it was a tough blow because we have raced and trained really well up until the event. The times we have been hitting regularly would have put us right up their. Unfortunately or fortunately thats racing, otherwise we would all just send in our top times and call it a day.
Next Jen and I had the k2 1000m heat it went well a few bobbles but a solid mid section. We went on to the semis later in the day where we qualified for the A final in that event! It was a super solid run and we felt like we had a "good start for us" however, according to others it was still nerve racking because of the methodical (I will call it methodical) way we start our races. It was definitly an improvement from the 1000m heat and we will improve on it again tomorrow in the final!

World Championships Start TOMORROW!

USA Canoe/kayak press release

Starting Thursday, the U.S. National Sprint Team will compete for World Championship medals and Olympic spots at the 2011 ICF Sprint World Championships in Szeged, Hungary, Aug. 17-21
Read press release

check out this article in the Oklahoma Gazette

Click here to read gazette article

Bellagio, Italy

We approached Bellagio from the scenic route or so I am told.....for those of us unfortunate enough to have motion sickness it was slightly less scenery and a lot more of.... huddle in the fetal position until we get to our destination. The little bits of the drive through the Italian country side I saw were breath taking. Small Villages on single lane roads (well supposedly 2 lane thats up for debate though) with the Dolomites rising up in the background and lots of woods all about, the best part was seeing Lake Como as we descended a narrow road toward Bellagio. 

It was one of those days that just fell into place perfectly without any planning at all. We drove into town looking for a parking space after a bit we gave up and were heading out of town to locate a spot further up the road when, a guy on a Harley starts honking at us and drives right up next to the van. It was Antonio Rossi a famous Italian kayaker, he informed us parking would not be a problem and invited us to his club in town. Club Lido turned out to be a swank little yacht club on lake Como right as you entered Bellagio. 

He spoke to the women at the entrance and we walked right on into the club. The Club had, there were cabanas offering shade to the occupants of white leather sofas which dotted an imported  white sandy beach.  Within a few minutes of seating ourselves on said sofas we were brought fruit kabobs and a giant bucket of spritz (some type of alcoholic concoction) with many colorful straws. We ended up spending a lovely afternoon lounging around and enjoying the finer aspects of Italy. 

Lecco, Italy

There is no bad scenery in Italy. Today we took a trip to Lecco,  the town is built around a lovely body of water and tucked into the dolomite mountains, so no good scenery a all ;)
On this trip I have seen more places and drank more cups of espresso then on any US Team trip todate its wonderful!

Lake Como

Imagine a perfect day, the water is like glass for your morning workout, the temperature is in the 70's and your in the mountains somewhere in Italy. That was my day!
We hit the morning session with alot of focus and made significant improvements from the previous day, which I feel did alot to boost our confidence. In the afternoon we took a bus to Como, a small city about 30min from where we are staying. The city is beautiful, its situated in the middle of the mountains and around a large lake. I am hoping to do some more exploring their this weekend when we have a full day off.

Italy

The OKC contingente of the USA National team made it to Italy without a problem. Okay there were a few close calls in leaving people behind in Frankfurt and then Milan, but when all was said and done we arrived at our destination with all 5 of us.
The first day at a new venue over seas is a bit tough no matter how beautiful the area is. The lack of sleep and  the need to stay awake til the local bed time makes it particularly difficult to be cognisant of whats happening around you.
However the girls K4 is going to try and break that pattern by going on a small hike this afternoon up to a church on a hill.

Spint Canoe/Kayak Nationals

Its been a grueling 2days of racing so far in the georgia heat and humidity. The 1000m races took place on Thursday, Jen and I placed 1st in the K2 and I was 3rd in the K1 but was disqualified because my boat was underweight! I was so mad but it was my own fault I took the weights out of my boat and used them in the K2 and forgot to put them back in my boat before the final, once you make one mistake like that you dont make it again!
Today was the 500m, the day started off early with a bang I won my heat in the K1 then, the National team K4 which I am a part of had a personal best, winning the event in 1:38 however one of the coaches clocked it as 1.37. The K2 was a tight race between Jen & I and the other K2 national team crew, they ended up edging us out in the final 150m of the race. Our K4 then competed in an exhibition  race against the mens national team C4 after that it was back to the K1 which was another tight race for 1st-3rd, I ended up in second. Tomorrow is the 200m. All events are streaming live on  www.lckc.org.