Jackson Kayak team is having a great start to the Teva Mountain Games! Extreme Racing and Boater X

June 6, 2006

Yesterday was the Boater X on the Dowd Chutes of the Eagle. Big
continuous water and some interesting gates made for a great race. In the
time trial, EJ, Jay, Brad, Tao in that order. In the Final head to head
race it was EJ, Tao, Brad, Jay. Jay actually was clearly ahead of Tao
and Brad finishing just behind me, but the judges didn’t see him make
contact with the mandatory gate so he got Disqualified (meaning last in the
heat). I had strong runs in all three races and never saw the back of
another boater, which is a great way to go!

In the women’s class- Tanya Faux took top honors, with Tanya Shuman just
behind her, and Emily got third. Laura Nash was 4th, and Nikki Kelley got
DQ’d like Jay did on the same gate.

Today we raced on the steep manky section of the homestake creek. This was
the Extreme race of the competition.

After 1st runs the times were:

1:50.65 Pat Keller

1:51.12 EJ

1:51:17 Tao Berman

It really all came down to second runs since it was so tight. Well, I
fixed my slow spots from the first run but made up some new ones, while Pat
Keller had a great run and got 1st place, beating his 2nd place from last
year. I got 2nd place this year, better also by one spot than my last year
position of 3rd. Tao crashed on his second run and Brad Ludden slipped in
front of him with a good second run to take 3rd.

I haven’t seen the women’s results yet. Awards are in 2 hours.

Now we have the Freestyle competition. Tonight is the big trick contest,
which I won last year, followed by Dane. Tomorrow is the Prelims for the
freestyle competition. Emily won her first pro women’s competition here
last year!

I am tired from the past two days of hard competition, and am taking a
little break before some training in an hour. Jay, Stephen, Emily, Dane,
and others are all in the hole training right now.

🙂 EJ