Easter Weekend at Olympic Qualifier

Photos

Emily decided this winter that she wanted to try to qualify for the Olympic trials and do some slalom racing. She did a two week training camp in Kenya this winter which set the hook. This week she spent the week at NOC training for the Olympic Qualifier race yesterday. Dane, Nick, Joel and I trained on Thursday and Friday here, leaving high water Rock Island, for a change of pace, even though it was hard to drive away from Brave Wave, the Falls, and big water play.

Yesterday was a big race day with paddlers from Slovakia, Canada, Czech Republic, all the best from the USA, Chile, and more. Being an Olympic Year has so many people chasing that single spot for the team. One kayaker, one woman kayaker, one C1, and one C2 and that is it! Scott Parsons is showing that he is the man to beat with a win yesterday, and a 7th place in the world championships last year in the men’s kayak class.

The goal yesterday was to earn a spot at the Olympic Trials. Well, the Easter Bunny came early for Emily and EJ, allowing both of us to secure our spots at trials!

Emily qualified in good form with a second run that was really good and much faster than her first. I had two consistent runs, where my second run was two seconds slower than my first but with no penalties. My first run had two gate touches for 4 seconds in penalties, so my second run was two seconds better overall.

The Olympic Team Trials happens at the USNWC in Charlotte, NC in April. That course is much different than the Nantahala in that it is artificial, and the whitewater is much harder. This is good for the Jackson’s as we spend our time on harder whitewater, but the slalom racers that train full time will have the advantage until we start taking this sport seriously with training. I am using 12 years of full time training from 1984-1996 to compete, even though that was 12 years ago! Emily is using her full time freestyle and river running paddling for her arsenal. Dane is also and did really well yesterday but didn’t qualify for the Olympic Trials.

Emily is also considering going to the Junior Slalom Team Trials to compete in the Junior World Championships (assuming she makes the team).

It is Easter Sunday, and day two of racing is about to begin. Today is just for fun, we are done qualifying, but we are just as excited to race! The courses they set are hard! Yesterday’s course had two spins in it, even for the top guys, like Scott Parsons. I haven’t spun twice in a race since there was reverse gates in the late 80’s! Today’s course has a long offset sequence of 6 gates that will include a back ferry for me! Sweet! Well, it is 12 minutes until the race starts, and I go in 45 minutes. Time to get dressed and warm up!

Emily and I are quite excited to be able to compete in the Olympic Trials next month!

🙂
EJ