US Team Trials 2010

Yes, it was that much fun.

For me, this event really began back in December. Looking for a reason to be somewhere for the winter, I used the excuse of Team Trials being held on the Nantahala to move to Asheville for 3 months. It also helped that my dad and sister lived in the area and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to be surrogate mother to Hudson, Andria and Leland Davis' dog. (By the way, their new North America Guidebook is one of the coolest books any paddler can own)

The thought that the southeast might we warmer (and therefore more conducive to training on the water during the winter) also enticed me. After weeks and weeks of freezing temperatures and a ridiculous amount of snow, I have learned to never expect anything out of the weather anymore.

Yet, somehow I bucked up enough to gain a semblance of control over this craft, enough to stay in it and keep it relatively straight. I actually found using a wing blade to help a lot with this, in addition to the flatwater workouts I put myself through.

The race weekend turned out to be a blast. Something about competition is just really exciting for me, every time, no matter how much physical torture I know I am going to endure. I couldn't help but talk to all the other racers I hadn't met yet, just oozing with enthusiasm.

Sprints were first, 2 trials on a 80-90 second course through one rapid.

White-out in Patton's Run on the sprint course

I really just tried to paddle as hard as I could for the sprint. Considering that my boat control is still fairly non-existent I thought I might as well just rely on my strength for this one. Blasting through the top hole (as opposed to slicing to the right of it) slowed me down, but made for a great photo.

I placed 3rd out of the ladies in the sprint, only 1.67% off of Tierney-the numba-one lady. For those of you who don't get this comparison, that is REALLY close. Haley, second-place-jr-racer, was only 1.13% off Tierney.

Arggg! (i.e. I might puke)

Sunday's Classic race, a 12-15 minute race, was a bit more of my speed. Give me the longer endurance race and I'm a happy 'yaker. Of course, the tornado that threw me into the shore as I pulled away from the start, picking up water from the river to spit in my face, made for an interesting beginning to my first Classic event.

Every time I felt myself backing off, I made myself go faster. Every time I came out of a rapid, I made myself go faster. And every time I thought of Tierney a few spots behind me, I made myself go faster. Although I was barely breathing across the finish line, I think I could have gone faster.

I pulled it up a bit for the class, allowing me to jump to 2nd place for the final rankings. Amazingly enough I was still just 1.65% off of Tierney. What is with that number?

JP Bevilaqua, my Asheville training partner, and Tom Wier after the Classic

Mackenzie and I cheering the boys over the finish line on after our Classic runs

It feels pretty good to make the Team, even if I can't make it to World's in Spain this year. I'm looking forward to working out the kinks over the next 2 years and hitting an international event in 2012!