Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Alberta Cup #1-- The 2008 "Cyclone Slalom"!


Well for those that came down to the Alberta Cup #1 this past weekend, it was sure an adventurous time! Plus 30 sunburning temperatures on Saturday gave way to a howling hurricane on Sunday making the race a tad bit "challenging"...

Saturday's clinics were, in my opinion, quite successful. For one, the relentless wind miraculously relented! This provided a beautiful day for learning! But the best part was all the new faces that came out to brave paddling slalom on Whitewater! I was very pleased to see Shilo, Ashley, and Courtney come down from Cottonwood. I hope you guys had a good time out there and will be back for more! There were also a number of fresh faces from southern Alberta vying for a spot on their Alberta Summer Games team. Congratulations Rocky, Veronica, and Rebecca.

Come race day it was another story. As you can see in the picture above that Ian Jobe took of me, it was a tiny bit windy out there! I'm looking, up, up, WAAYYYY up because the gates were at times blowing horizontal! Nether-the-less I was pleased to see all the brave souls tackle the course, despite the risk of actually being blown right over!! It turned out not being too bad, and was good practice for paddling in the wind. I was a bit disappointed in our senior paddlers though as they have just decided to concede overall Alberta Cup victory to me by being too scared to show up-- Too Bad- I would have enjoyed whooping you guys in person. Maybe next race, hey losers!?!

Also a huge THANKS to the Cole family for hosting everyone at their lovely castle and sparking up the BBQ for us for some tasty meals! I think everyone had a great time staying together and eating meat and shooting guns and doing a third workout of the day with Dance-Dance-Revolution! Also, thanks to Chuck Lee for hosting Sunday breakfast and for organizing the race, and for building the race course! And thanks to all the parents who braved the hurricane to help judge and time the event. A great time was hopefully had by all!

Monday, June 23, 2008

Hayward 30th, Groeneveld 44th at World Cup Opener


Young Albertans, Ben Hayward and Jessica Groeneveld, both on their first World cup tours, participated in their first world cup ever in Prague, Czech Republic this past weekend.

Hayward showed promise early, qualifying for the semi-final in 20th position. His second running time in the qualifier was the 11th fastest of the day!! Hopefully Hayward will take some confidence away with that run and continue to blaze up the international scene. Hayward then advanced to the semi-final where he produced a running time good enough for 20th position again, but unfortunately just grazed three gates on the way down adding six seconds in penalties to his time. He ended up 30th overall, the top Canadian ahead of David Ford in 32nd, almost 5 seconds back in raw running time, and Nathan Davis in 33rd, 4 seconds back in raw running time. Way to show such good promise on your opening race Ben!

Jessica failed to advance to the Semi-final placing 44th in the Qualifier. The top 40 boats advance, so she was just outside. Unfortunately penalties were once again a problem and without her 16 additional seconds in penalties Jessica would have advanced into the semi-final! But make no mistake folks, these are insanely competitive races and first race jitters are only to be expected. But Jessica has proven this year that she is quickly on the rise! We'll watch for some good performances in the upcoming events.

VERY COOL from this years event!!! You can watch EVERY RUN from the Semi-final and final on video at the Prague World Cup website. Check out Ben's blazing (albeit a bit sloppy) run, and compare it to top performances in the final. The site is:
http://www.slalomtroja.cz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=143&Itemid=160

Now the athletes head to Tacen, a very HUGE, unpredictable, and difficult slalom site, for World Cup #2. This will be a true test of every paddler's skills and expect some crazy results. It might well suit "Hurricane Hayward" as we have all witnessed his amazing ability to just keep those paddles turning and keep his boat moving no matter what the crazy water is doing! This is a good skill to have in Tacen where a whirlpool might catch you and send you off-line-- The only thing to keep you going fast is to just keep on going! We'll keep you updated here at the Alberta Slalom blog.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Boulder Run Info

Hello slalom racers!

Here is the info for this weekend's event down in Southern Alberta. The gates course was recently damaged in the high waters 2 weeks ago, so some of us will be meeting on Friday to repair the gates. Anyone who has the time to provide assistance, it would be greatly appreciated. We will be there all day Friday at the Boulder Run site. See Map below for directions.

Also, if you are not interested in paying for the camping, the Cole family may have an option for you in their yard. Please contact AJ or Jo Cole for additional info.

Friday

– 10:00 meet at Boulder Run to work on fixing race course. Finish at 5:00
– camping in Cottonwood Campground, 1 km downstream from Boulder Run

Saturday

- 9:30 Meet at Boulder Run for registration
- 10:00 kayaking clinic
- 12:00 lunch
- 1:00 kayaking clinic
- 8:00 Twin Butte Country dance

Sunday

- 9:30 Meet at Boulder Run for registration
- 10:00 kayaking race
- 12:00 lunch
- 1:00 kayaking race

Costs

Clinic - $25
Race - $10
Twin Butte Country Dance - $15
Camping - $15-$21/night

Location

Boulder Run Slalom Site on Oldman River below Oldman Dam, 13 km NE of Pincher Creek off Hwy #785. The map shows the location of the dam. Follow signs to Boulder Run. Should be in the general area of the marker. For some reason the map isn't zoomed in, so you have to click on the "View Larger Map" link in the Bottom left corner and then zoom in to get the details.


View Larger Map

Boulder Run Slalom/Alberta Cup #1


Well, this next weekend will see the return of the Alberta Cup with the first race in Boulder Run, Pincher Creek! Earn points towards the overall Alberta Cup and at the end of the year YOU could be the Champ! (Of course you'll have to beat me too it!) There will be 3 races and the Provincial Champs, so every race is important for victory!

I've never been to Boulder Run, but apparently it is a smaller course with moving water and eddies, ideal for the novice racer to open the season with and get a taste of the whitewater! So all you kids from Cottonwood-- I hope to see you there to get some moving water practice! We will have clinics on Saturday so you can get some practice on the course and hone your whitewater skills. Then you can rip up the race on Sunday! This will be a perfect opportunity to get out in the sun and have some fun and advance your slalom and kayaking abilities!

And for all you more advanced racers, this is going to be a great race, featuring some of the best paddlers in Alberta. Test your skills against members of our National Development team and Junior National team. And I'll be squeezing in some runs and I challenge anyone to take out my times!

Check back soon (Hopefully tomorrow) for all the details-- Schedule, costs, map, camping, etc.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Cottonwood Thank Yous

Got this note from Mac Gillies. Thanks Mac!

Hi Connor,

The Cottonwood Kayak Club would like to pass on a Special THANK-YOU to you CONNOR for your positive and enthusiastic energy that made the weekend a fun and rewarding experience for all the paddlers. We were not able to get our moving water gates up in time for the race but with Connor's vast experience we were able to turn the flat water course into a challenging event.

THANK-YOU also to MIKE HOLROYD for coming out race day to help with the athlete's and events.

THANKS to all paddlers that competed and supported our little race. By the smiles on the faces a good time was had by all.

THANK-YOU also to WSAA for the foresight in having hired performance paddlers to help inspire and train our younger paddlers!!! Well done.

THANK-YOU to all the PARENTS for the help and support setting up and managing all the activities race day. You are Cottonwood!

Mac Gillies
President Cottonwood Kayak Club

Canmore Race Postponed

Unfortunately the Canmore race this weekend has been postponed. Please check back soon for more information on alternative events. Currently I am suggesting slalom training at the Kananaskis on Saturday only and leaving Sunday free for your own time.

Thanks!
-Connor

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Cottonwood 2008-- "Grreeat Success!"


Despite the cold, rain, wind, flatwater, killer beavers, swamp zombies and mud, mud, mud, the Annual Cottonwood Club Race outside of Innisfail was a great success! Unfortunately the river course was washed out and some industrious beavers have made a super DAMN and flooded out the river pathway. So we improvised and held a mighty Head-to-Head sprint event on the flat! There was also a grueling DR race where I, for one, discovered I was probably a little out of shape! This was rounded off with some Polo skills, although a game never seemed to materialize...

I apologize to the volunteers-- with the head to head flatwater race and no judging necessary I kind of made your jobs disappear! But thanks for Bruce Waldie, Canada's head official, for coming down and explaining the rules in detail! I'm truly sorry that you then had to turn right back around and go fix the toilet that you were trying to avoid by judging the race! I'm sure Mrs. Waldie was happy! And thanks to Mac and Dan for setting up gates and the polo pitch. Thanks to Tyler Rice for showing all the Alberta Summer Games' athletes some killer polo skills. Thanks to Trina and Mike Cunningham for organizing and Mike for his awesome results program that we never got to use (Again, sorry Mike!) Thanks to Lisa Severtson for standing in the rain writing down all the times and then doing the math! I hope the head doesn't hurt too much after that computational effort! Thanks to all the Cottonwood parents who stood out on the dock and cheered and then had Burgers and Smokies and a million other tasty treats waiting for us afterwards. And finally thanks to Barry and Brenda Allen for hosting the event at their house and giving us a warm place to hide from the rain and dry gear (don't worry guys, that wet gear smell will be gone by next year! Oh wait, just in time for us to come back...)

As for the performances, there were many great ones! Especially the Gillies Brothers swimming-- 3 times!!! Quickly followed by Graham Jobe and AJ Cole. And little JJ showing all the older athletes how to turn properly! And when Courtney Groeneveld made her triumphant return to slalom and whooped her dad! And of course when I DESTROYED Mike in the head to head race! Ha! I was pleased to see that almost everyone raced almost every class, so I won't list the results here because almost everyone won something! Except I will note that there was an obvious error when Mike was handed the Gold Ribbon instead of me in the Men's category! Turns out we really did need Mr. Cunningham's results tabulating computer program so that error wouldn't have been made!

I was impressed by all the cottonwood athletes and I hope you guys all had a great time out there. Please check this web-page regularly for information on upcoming events. Check back tomorrow for info on this coming weekend's Canmore race. This is another slow moving water event perfect for all skill levels. I hope to see you guys all there so you can continue to learn, progress and have some fun! for now, check out the pictures!

Alberta Beef Baby. Fresh off the farm!

Bruce explaining how if you touch a gate he will cut off your ear!

Yummmmmmm! Drive that dirty burger into yo' belly boy!

Who is that darling little school girl on the raft with Jessie and Courtney???

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Cottonwood Clinics/Race Saturday/Sunday


View Larger Map
(Press the "View Larger Map" link to see a more detailed map that will lead right to the site)

Please see the following message from the Cottonwood Club regarding this weekend's event. I will be there from Friday night onwards doing slalom clinics, so if anyone is interested I'll hold a bonus clinic at 6:30-8 on Friday night. you can contact me via e-mail: kayakercon(at)yahoo.ca or phone 403-282-3374 (cell: Try not to call! 403-401-4601.) Here is the info:

Hello All,

Thought I would remind everyone that this weekend at Silver Lagoon we are having our annual race!!!

We will have a challenging course on the Little Red Deer River, which offers a nice easy current, easy access and excellent spectator viewing!

Saturday we will have training clinics for all in the morning, and the afternoon will see our DR race on flat water or more clinics. Registration for both days are at 9 am and plan to be on the water around 10am. The cost is $25 for Saturday's clinics and $10 for Sunday’s race. We have a pot luck supper on , bring a salad or dessert and smokies and pop will be for sale.

Sunday we will have our slalom race, 2 runs and then awards. There will be a concession for burgers, hot dogs etc.

Camping is near by and some of us have yards that you are welcome to set up in (little farther to the course). We don’t have any campgrounds booked, but people can check out Red Lodge Park, River Ridge, Dickson Leisure or the South Boat Launch. All are very close.

This is an excellent course for novices of all ages to have some fun competition on moving water that is not too challenging but rewarding just the same. For the more advanced paddlers-- a race is a race! So come on out and show the younger generation your skills!

We hope to see some people come out and enjoy the weekend and have some good times paddling with the Cottonwood Club.

Please contact Mac Gillies: callmac(at)xplornet.com or Trina Cunningham: sweetweet(at)telus.net for any additional info!

Monday, June 2, 2008

Alberta Athletes Shaw and Dederer Shine at National Team Selection

The Alberta sun dove behind a cloud and driving rain and wind descended over the mighty Kananaskis river. But as Alberta junior athletes lined up at the start line of the final event of the 2008 Junior National Team Trials their eyes were steelier then the dark, swirling sky. The fire and lighting was captured in those eyes, first in young Marissa Dederer, who stormed down the course in the final run with aggression and power, outclassing her opponents to the line to take a scintillating victory in the Junior Women's event. Combined with solid performances in the two previous races 15 year old Dederer proved she will be a force in the Canadian slalom scene for many years to come. None of the older Junior women had displayed such consistency as the young Dederer who has 2 more years of Junior nomination before entering the senior division.

Matt Frank took note of Dederer's performance and, despite some controversial calls on his previous race that would have left most young paddlers a mess of nerves, Frank attacked with a fervor quite contrary to his quite demeanor. Frank cut the insanely tricky move through gates 4-5 like a diamond in butter, striking a blow to his opponents upstream who looked on in awe as they waited for their own starts. It was Frank and Dederer's best racing ever, and a timely strike when spots on the National Junior team were on the line. Frank was leading, fast and clean, and fear struck his competition. In costly moves of conservatism, rivals from Ontario and Quebec proceeded to spin the difficult move at gates 4-5 where "Frank the Tank" had been oh-so-bold-and-daring!

But it would be Shaw who would bring the final lightning strike. Almost blowing the move at 4-5 by apparently forgetting where he was going out of the exit of gate 3, Shaw used his dominant whitewater skills to pull off the direct line cleanly from a nail-bitingly late approach. A touched gate in the middle section added 2 seconds in penalty to his running time furthering the drama. But in trademark Shaw style Bryce attacked the upstreams, not so much turning his boat, but absolutely throwing it from entry to exit. In the final upstream sequence Shaw whipped the upstream gate 18 on a razor sharp backstroke taking seconds out of the competition, sealing the victory and earning him the third spot on the National Junior Team. For a boy who had just started training full time for slalom this past year, and had flown under the radar for his unorthodox paddling style, it was quite the upset to the Eastern slalom establishment!

Alberta athlete's Graham Jobe and Haley Daniels unfortunately didn't have the consistency over the three race selection and ended up ranked 7th and 9th overall in their respective classes. Both showed amazing ability, and will no doubt be bright future stars in Canadian slalom. Daniels was clearly the strongest paddler in her class with sharp turns, and mighty forward power. Racing practice will surely see her upsetting the senior national team when she advances to the senior "Olympic" class next year. Jobe still has another year of Junior nomination. With his power, and beautiful forward and neutral style we will no doubt be seeing him grace the top international ranks at the next Junior Worlds competition. This year was already a good start with a 3rd place finish in the first race of the team trial, matching teammate Frank's third in race three. As for the mighty hero of race three, "Frank the Tank" ended up combining a 3rd place finish in that third race with a 5th place finish in the 2nd race to end up ranked 5th overall and named to the National Development team. All three athletes will travel to the BIG SHOW this summer to race in major international junior competitions in Europe under the direction of coach Mike Holroyd. Kick butt and take names like you can Team Alberta!!!

So in summury, congrats to Marissa Dederer and Bryce Shaw for their nomination to the senior national team. For full team listing and eventual results please visit www.wsaa.ca.

This also served as an Alberta Team selection with representation from Roni and Idan Wolach, Adrian Cole, Jessie Gillies, Levi Steverston, and Brett Embleton. Everyone paddled quite well and I was greatly impressed with the determination of these young paddlers to jump into such a big competition first thing in the year! The following are named to the Provincial Team: Roni, Idan, Levi and Brett. Conrats! Jessie and Adrian, despite showing amazing potential, faced stifling competition from some of the best Alberta juniors we have produced in Matt, Graham and Bryce. Excellent paddling on both their parts couldn't quite reach the percentages laid out by their older counterparts. Adrian and Jessie will be named to the Provincial Development Team. I encourage everyone to attend all the events on the Alberta Development Program schedule that you will soon be receiving, or have already received. The program info and fees should have been sent with the schedule. Please contact me, Connor Curson, at kayakercon(at)yahoo.ca or 403-401-4601. I will also send out information about team uniforms soon.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!! to all the volunteers, organizers, sponsors, and supporters who made this event an extremely well run race! And congratulations to All the Alberta athletes who participated-- This writer for one was VERY impressed by the level of paddling from out top athletes. Keep committed and find a way to make it happen and you will be in for a wonderful adventure through slalom paddling!