EJ’s personal World Cup experience

September 10, 2006

So far the World Cup is going awesome, with terrific local governing bodies (Wilderness Tours and Blackwater Development) and intense competition. My goal is to win the overall title, of course, but like any major goal, it is never easy. I started off the world cup with an 8th place finish, flushing off the Garberator after my 4th move, twice in a row to miss finals. I was very excited to watch Stephen Wright take the 1st place spot, but it was tough watching the finals from the sidelines. We have about 15 Team JK members from all over the globe, with Jez driving the Jackson Kayak bus. This has been super fun and quite busy, with team dinners, breakfast, training, etc. Kristine is the ultimate team mom!

Training at the Black, World Cup #2 spot, started off on the Route 3 wave, but the day before the competition it got moved to Hole Brothers. I had some fun training there, early in the morning, at night, mid-day, whenever, trying to get it figured out. My body got more than a fair share of exercise. I knew coming into this competition that I need to win it to have a chance of winning overall. In order for me to win the World Cup now, I need to get 1st place at Rock Island, and beat Bryan Kirk by two or more places. (he must get 3rd or lower). Being in this position is fun for me, even though it would be more fun to be have 2 wins under my belt. I will do my last freestyle event of 2006 and I need to both win and roll the dice! Stephen Wright, Andrew Holcomb, Bryan Kirk, and I are all in the running for the Cup. Finishing at Rock Island doesn’t hurt my chances at all, but Stephen rocks that spot too!

Watching my kids paddle and win today was quite an experience. They love to compete and they are so good at what they do it is scary. I was worried that I would be the weak link today in the Jackson family, since Dane and Emily had already won their events before my finals!

I am at a point in my season that I am actually looking forward to being out of the competition mode. With that said, I am super amped up to compete at my home spot with my whole team there. The Jackson Kayak factory team will be there in force, some competing, all of them working hard to put on a killer event. We will have a great event!

Yagi from Japan just showed up to Rock Island today! I wish I was there to pick him up! Yagi is an incredible boater that paddles the All-Star.

OK, I am going to relieve Kristine now!

🙂 EJ