Drama and Sub-Plots! I wasn't kidding.

Day 1

Friday was an exciting race. First day of team trials is always a scary one. Everyone has trained really hard all winter and this is the first test of the season and the last National race in over six months. Everyone is trying to get a read on the competition and everyone has high expectations. It was my first Team Trials off the water, and it was nerve racking not having any direct control over what happens.

Our Alberta athletes did well on day one and we held second and third spots in Men's kayak due to great, solid performances of Ben Hayward (Edmonton) and Chris McTaggart (Canmore) respectively. This sets them up well for the next days.

Paul Manning-Hunter (Edm), Purcell2 (Innisfail), and Jessica Groenveld (Innisfail) all had solid runs showing that they have the speed to compete Nationally. The Juniors girls showed potential mixing it up with the other Canadian juniors. Unfortunately Haley Daniels (Cal) broke here paddle on her first run after a solid top section. Marissa Dederer (Cal) had a competitive second run.


Day 2

Saturday was the Olympic qualifier for several countries. as I mentioned in a previous post there were Olympic spots on the line for North and South America in every class. After a crazy day of racing Canada sits with a men's kayak spot, based on the World Championship performance, with three athletes still in the hunt going into Sunday's race (David Ford (BC), Nathan Davis (BC), Pierre Levesque (Que). Saturday saw Innisfails' Jessica Groenveld qualify the country spot in an insane Women's K1 race. Now it is between her and Sarah Boudens in Sunday's race.

The continental C2 spot went to the United States as did the C1 men's spot in a heated race between Canada and the USA. Canada will have to wait to see if China will qualify a spot in a complicated chain of events.

The extra continental spot in K1 men went to Chile's Pablo Mccandles, despite all the tricks Brazil through at it.

Some stellar runs were thrown out there today by Alberta paddlers. Besides Jessica's good work, Graham Jobe had a great first run, Haley Daniels had a personal best performance on a re-run, and Ben Hayward came oh so close to securing a spot on the National Team. Still time tomorrow for National Team qualification. I'm expecting an exciting day tomorrow though I hope the protest tent has less work.

Stay tuned...