Wednesday, June 30, 2010

World Cup 2 - Seu d'Urgell, Spain

After two World Cup competitions, Canada is on a roll. This weekend in Spain 4 athletes made the semi-finals. Jessica Groeneveld of Innisfail had her personal best finish of 27th on the World Championship course from 2009. Jess was pleased with her performance and feels that an increased increased internal focus helped her along. Good lesson kids; there's no point worrying about what others are doing, because all you can control is yourself.

David Ford, John Hastings & Cam Smedley placed 13th, 27th and 28th respectively. Unfortunately Edmonton's Ben Hayward acquired a nasty bug in Prague and was not yet on form for the weekend of racing. I guess he didn't drink enough Coke to kill the bacteria in the water.

This weekend is Augsburg, Germany. Clean water, nice forests and lots of spectators await. Good Luck to all!

Monday, June 21, 2010

World Cup 1 - Prague, CZ

World Cup 1 was run in Prague, Czech Republic despite high water conditions. This is the first of three World Cup weekends with Seu d'Urgell, Spain and Augsburg, Germany following it up.

In Prague, Alberta's Jessica Groeneveld and Ben Hayward failed to qualify for the Semi-Finals after dissapointing runs and an extremely tight field. In the men's kayak class only 4.5seconds separated the top 40 paddlers!!!

The good news of the weekend was Canada's John Hastings dominating the kayak semi-final and finishing 7th in the Final. Well done Johnny! Read the article!

Alberta Cup #2 - Pincher Creek

Pincher Creek without wind; Is it possible?

Yes! Great weekend for racing in Pincher Creek on the Old Man River at Boulder Run. With barely a breath of wind, conditions were perfect for the second Alberta Cup of the season. A long course, over 2 minutes, was set on this classic Alberta race site.

The race was hotly contested in many classes. K1w cadet was dominated by Sundre as Lissy Methorst snatch the win from Hannah Penner. Sundre also dominated the men's kayak in cadet as Ryley Penner won from, fellow club member, Matt Alliban and Innisfail's Darius Ramrattan.

The Junior division lost National Team member AJ Cole to sickness the night before the race, giving Levi Severtson of Innisfail a clear run to his first Alberta Cup win! Idan Wolach of Calgary and Matt S from Canmore were 2nd and 3rd respectively. In the women's junior class it was hometown duo Veronica Oczkowski and Jordyn Appleby in first and second.

In C1 Hayden Daniels of Calgary won the junior race, while Veteran Vince Osborne of Banff won the senior race and Chuck Lee of Pincher Creek the Master's class.

Haley Daniels doubled winning both C1 & K1 in the women's open class.

Calgary was dominant in the Men's K1 as former Naitonal Team athlete and Alberta Head Coach, Mike Holroyd, eaked out a win over fellow coaches, Toby Roessingh and Mikkel St Jean.

Great weekend of racing! We're looking forward to race three which will see slalom return to Jasper after more than a decade of absence.

Full results will be posted at asck.ca

National Team Trials - Whistler

Alberta had a solid showing at Senior Team Trials in late May. The weekend got started with Canmore's Chris McTaggart stealing a win in race 1 putting the pressure on the incumbant team. Ben Hayward of Edmonton remained solid through the weekend looking for his third year on the Team. Paul Manning-Hunter was decent through race 2 & 3 but needed something special for race 4 in order to advance.

Paul got the better of race 4, finishing just behind 99 World Champion David Ford, but it was not enough to beat Hayward for the third spot. Manning-Hunter would have to settle for the Development Team. McTaggart struggle to regain his race 1 performance and finished further back. The Men's Team is: John Hasting (ON), David Ford ( BC), Ben Hayward (AB).

In the Women's class it was Jessica Groeneveld of Innisfail taking the top spot on the Women' Kayak Team. Jess tied Ottawa's Sarah Boudens in races but won on aggregate percentage for her first time as #1 boat. Team: Jessica Groenveld (AB), Sarah Boudens (ON).

In C2 the Purcell Brothers were up against the clock to qualify. They paddled well on the narrow difficult course, but finished just outside of percentage and put themself on the Development Team. The Cutts (ON) were the only C2 to make the required percentage.

C1 was dominated by Ottawa, with Cam Smedley sneaking in late in the weekend to beat Julian Potvin. Veteran C1 Vince Osborne of Banff made his return to Team Trials competition after 10 years away. Osborne was the warrior of the weekend continuing to race despite cuts to his hands from Saturday. C1 women was won by the lone paddler from Quebec, Cindy Audet.

Great two weeks of racing in BC and the organizing commitee did a great job of hosting a flawless race. Thanks Shelly & Shonnett!