Guide to tieing boats

How to Tie Boats from Dagger

Learn that trucker's hitch and straps are a think of the past!

Sick Vid of Slalom!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAnEPcd4tMM&feature=player_embedded

Night Training in Brat

Following the race we had two more days of training in Bratislava. Monday evening we got to paddle under the lights which is always a different experience!

Is that Gretzky?
Start of the Session...that's the moon

Assistant coach

Hastings on a cross

Ben Hayward

Slovak Open - 2011 Pre-World Championships

A mixed Canadian team represented this weekend at the Slovak Open. Development Team members Paul Manning-Hunter and Thomas & Daniel Purcell joined National Team members Jessica Groeneveld, Ben Hayward, John Hastings and David Ford, in the Pre-World Championships. All but Hastings are Alberta born and raised so it great to see the depth of Alberta's development over the years.

For the first time in 7 years the Bratislava organizers ran the tough left-left channels on the Danubia course. The slalom course here allows for at least 4 different channel configurations. Left-left will be the channel used for next year's World Championships and Olympic Qualifier.

It was a good showing for the Team. All but Manning-Hunter qualified for the Semi-Finals. The Purcell brothers made they're first semi-final along with all the National Team members

From the Semi Finals, Hayward was the one to step up and qualify for his first ever Final! With two good runs, Ben qualified 7th, and then followed it up with a similar run to finish 7th overall. With fastest splits on both runs he was happy to be on an upswing going in to the next month of training and racing.

One more day of training Bratislava and then we head to Tacen, Slovenia to prepare for the World Championships.

Cheers, Mike

Canadian National Championships - Minden, Ontario

A return to Minden for the National Championships will be the highlight for many Canadian athletes this year. The site, which is arguably the best in Canada, has hosted Team Trials, National Championships, and World Cups over the years. In 2015 it will be the host site for the Toronto, PanAm Games.

Alberta entered 19athletes in the 2010 edition of the National Championships. A good contingent given the three day drive to get there. Our youngest athlete Hannah (12) was just over a fifth of the age of our wiley veteran, Greg Hunter. With three coaches, a strong contingent of cadet, junior, senior paddlers and a cohesive team we put our mark on the event. Congratulations to Ontario in re-capturing the Brian Creer Cup on home soil.

Alberta athletes won a dozen individual slalom medals (Jessica, Ben x2, Purcells, Haley, Marissa x2, AJ, Hayden, Ryley, Hannah, Matt A, Greg). They also won handfulls of downriver medals dominating the points in the DR classic, while Ontario athletes were the ones to beat on the short course. All sorts of teams were thrown together on Sunday for an exciting Team race on the lower course.

Following the race, Mikkel and Brace lead 8 athletes on the Ottawa River and Sturgeon falls for a week on the way home. Superb surfing was had by all, even if some of it was longer and in bigger holes than intended! Thanks to Owl Rafting for putting up the Team on the Ottawa!!

Well done Alberta on a successful Canadian Championships. Next year's edition should be in BC and we're looking forward to a slightly shorter drive and a dominating performance from Alberta.

Alberta Summer Games - Peace River

As usual the host community put on a great event and were extremely supportive of the Games. A huge thank you to the local volunteers!

51 athletes from across Alberta competed in the Canoe/Kayak events of Polo, Slalom and Downriver. Some great Zone rivalries were re-ignited, yet everyone was very supportive of one another. Many new friendships were born and some long time friends were re-united. Some 150 slalom, polo and downriver boats were brought out by a dozen club coaches who did a great job training and supporting thier athletes.

Three days of setup were required for the different venues and in the end all three worked out great. The biggest challenge was the changing water levels on the Peace River for the Slalom course. When race day came though, the water came up and we were able to host a great event.

Well done to all the athletes who participated. Hope to see all your names on upcoming Alberta Cup races and tournaments!

Southern Alberta Summer Games - Brooks

Here's some pics from last week's Southern Alberta Summer Games. These games are open to all ages from Zone 1. The site is on a irrigation canal outside Brooks. Good job Chuck and Dan for setting up the course, and thanks to the irrigation district for turning on the water, depite the fact that the farmers didn't need it!

Sam Hosoya - Athlete spotlight

Welcome to Sam Hosoya, our newest HP athlete. Sam is 15 and comes from Japan. He has been paddling for about three years and is now attending high school at Bishop Grandin in Calgary while trying to learn some english and improve his kayaking. Please make him feel welcome.

Sam's First Day on the Kananaskis, November 30th 2009 during a reconisance trip to Alberta. Why did he come back you say?

Zone 2,3 Pre Alberta Summer Games Camp

Great Back Stroke Pivot Technique - Levi

Nice Open Draw - Graham

K1s, C1s, C2s!

The Whole Gang!

A great three days on the Red Deer River near Sundre. Mikkel St Jean lead the team of coaches, Brace, Gayle, Jesse, Graham & Jim to a sucessful camp designed to get everyone ready for Alberta Summer Games. Slalom, Polo & Downriver were all on the agenda and everyone got in lots of paddling.

I saw some great C1 and C2 skills as well and solid river running skills on Thursday. Good luck to all at the Summer Games!

Junior World Championships

The Junior World Championships were held in Foix, France this past weekend. Alberta had two members competing for Canada, Marissa Dederer and AJ Cole.

Marissa had three very respectable runs earning her a 21st place in the World. AJ struggled on the last couple of gates on the course and ended up 61st.

The rest of the Canadian Team also went well with Michael Taylor of Ottawa in 13, Jazmyn Denhollander of Chilliwack in 15th, Alex Mcgee in 16th.

I hope to get some pictures from them soon to upload. Good Job Canada!

Alberta Cup #3 - Whirlpool River, Jasper

Thank you to Parks Canada for allowing us to host this race in the National Park. Thank you Al for coming out and talking about the Park. Thank you parents and coaches for helping make this event a success! Check out ASCK.ca for the lastest Alberta Team standings.

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!

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!