World Kayak Event Coverage

We have come to the half way mark of our season…  Is that a bad thing? Heck no. It means that there is still a half season to go

Tonight we were once again graced by the weather gods. Rain for the most of the day followed by a friendly thunder storm. Then, in answer to my continuous sacrifices to the weather gods: Sunny and warm from 6:30 till the end of the event.

We had another great turnout in Valleyfield Quebec on the Riviere St-Charles. 11 people came out in spite of the forecast. We had a promise from 8 others but the forecast put an end to that. Oh well.

Cheryl, Maryse B, Maryse L, (not just the same name but they had the same type of car too ), Emily, Sylvie, Alexandre, Pascal, Lee, Adam, Sean and Neik all got in the gear and walked to the top of the course to give it their best. And they did.
Through the season I have made it a point to make each event a bit tougher than the previous one and this was no exception. Although we take into account the various skill levels we made sure that there were a few extra gates, an few must make eddies that are not quite so easy to catch (The last one on river right in the upper section is just above a lovely pour over that will toss you around just enough to make sure that you try hard to make the eddy:) ) and of course, the optional hand roll at the end of a bonus time adjustment.

Our participants did great! Pascal had never before run a race or even thought about pushing hard down a river. Sean and Neil paddled on of the CReW Club JK Duos. Neik was in a kayak for the first time and they were awesome. Maryse B did an awesome job and made all her lines. Her smiles definately were nice to see on the water! Cheryl upped her game and the times showed. Emily (all of 11 years old) made all the right moves and finished with a smashing hand roll. Sylvie helped with the time keeping and did the demo run for everyone at the beginning. Her run great too and came with loads of big smiles as well.
Yours truly did not race as I am down with a nasty ear infection that I am hoping to control by Saturday morning.

Lee is something of an enigma. He is a good paddler, a father and someone that we like to have around and is also legally blind. His vision is very limited and watching him paddle so well and with so much “get up and go” is awesome.

The race ended in smiles. Everyone got a chance to step up their game in one way or another and then we got a chance o reward them. The prizes from our sponsors were met with great excitement. Everyone walked away with something. Not to mention a good workout and great memories.
The scores were as follows:

Alexandre:  2:24
Cheryl:         2:27
Pascal:         2:30
Lee:             2:32
Maryse B:     2:37
Sylvie:          2:46
Adam:          2:50
Maryse L:     2:58
Sean/Neik:   3:04
Emily:          3:11

Our next event in the Seaway Valley is a Hometown Throwdown! 25 July 2009 at the Riviere St-Charles in Valleyfied Quebec.Hope we will see a lot of people there

Till then paddle safe and see you on the river,

Robert Zwanenburg
www.cornwallwhitewater.com