USA Team Trials Over and was awesome!

What a great weekend with plenty of drama, great racing, great weather, and tons of people! The Canadians selected their Olympic Team in David Ford (now 5 time Olympian!), and Sara Boudens for the women. They didn’t earn a spot for C1 as the USA took that spot with Jeff Larimer edging out Ben Fraker yesterday. The Americans have to go to Augsburg, Germany to decide who gets to go to the Olympics. It is a long road to the Olympic Team if you are on Team USA. Last year’s world championships are in play (if you were on the 2007 USA Team), and then USA Trials (just completed), and now a World Cup event in Germany. So, still in the men’s class, Scott Parsons, Brett Hyle (won yesterday), and Scott Mann still all have a shot at it!

I had a great time at trials, as did Emily. We both had some solid runs throughout the weekend. Emily was 8th in the USA yesterday, while I was 11th! I haven’t trained for slalom since 1996, and the 12 years of not being in a slalom boat shows. I am still on the fence about whether to train some again or not. I love the training, and love doing slalom, and when I train I am quite good, but it is the simple act of deciding which boat to paddle at any given moment. I am still inclined to get in my All-Star, Rocker, or Hero most of the time. Perhaps a good training camp for three weeks somewhere next year? We’ll see.

Signing off from Slalom racing after three days of action, with a smile on my face!

EJ