Teva Mountain Games Freestyle Event goes off big time!

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The finals for the Teva Mountain Games Freestyle Event was like being in a cage with the crowd going nuts. I got to watch the women’s finals from the Jackson Kayak hotel balcony. It was between Ruth Gordon, Tanya Faux, and Emily Jackson. After first rides, Tanya was in first, Ruth in second, and Emily in third. Tanya is from Australia, and Ruth from Canada, and Emily from the States.

On Second rides, Emily got to go first and nailed her ride with a sweet Air Loop, air wheel, McNasty, Phonix Monkey, and some cartwheels to put up a 58 point ride. Ruth followed and nailed her ride coming close to Emily but ahead of Tanya. Tanya improved on her second ride as well but went from 1st to 3rd on that one.

On their third and final ride, Tanya was unable to improve and stayed in third and Ruth had another good ride but still didn’t beat eh 58 points put down by Emily. Emily got to do a “victory ride” in her Pink Star as she celebrated her 4th year in a row winning at the Teva Mountain Games!

In the men’s Class 5 “men” got to compete in finals. The Jackson paddlers performed incredibly well shutting out the competition, meaning 5 paddlers, all in Jackson Kayak Star or All-Stars in finals! What a proud moment for me to see the depth and skill of our paddlers! Jason Craig made his mark as the 14 year old to make finals. Last year Dane was third in this event, but didn’t quite make the cut this year. Stephen Wright won semi-finals and made the cut easily, no surprise!

I got to go first in finals and hit a 115 point ride. I was surprised at my score, but even more surprised that it ended up in first place after everyone did their first ride. Nick had the lowest score, then Jason, then Stephen, then Dustin, and I won that round. On second rides, Nick improved his score but only to about 111 points, Jason and Stephen also had better scores, but not Dustin. I had a much better ride and was quite happy with a 158 putting me way in the lead after second rides.

The field is re-seaded with the top guy going last, which was me. I got to watch Nick go and get a 156 only two points away from my score and put him in second place. Stephen had a great third ride knocking Dustin into 4th place, and Jason into 5th place. The only person left to beat my 158 was Dustin and while he certainly could do it, he hadn’t scored that high yet in this competition. He went in the hole as I watched, knowing that I will either be doing a victory lap or having to improve my score to win. Dustin flew his All-Star over the hole moving from one move to the next. I still had him with only 5 seconds left and he was only at about 130 points. In the final 5 seconds he threw a beautiful tricky-woo right into a backloop to flush earning 42 points in the final 5 seconds to shoot past my score to 178! My life is about these moments, however, and here I am sitting by the hole, only to realize that I am next and not upstream of the hole for my entry move! I don’t know what I was thinking! Somehow, I thought I had time to watch and then go. I took a little time to get myself together, looked at the crowd which was ready for me to do something big, and decided that I was going to go full out for a 200 point ride.

I entered the hole and threw my first 5 moves without hesitation and I was well underway, way ahead of any ride I had had yet. I got to my left Mcnasty, which is hard in this hole, where my self-talk for that move is “fast and confident” so I looked at the judges, as I usually do, and said “watch this”. I went to throw it and stalled out before getting into a back blast. I tried a second time and flipped and flushed. At this point I could only do one thing and that was to throw all of my moves double speed to make up the time and still win. Instead of nailing them I missed both Phonix Monkey attempts and it was game over.

Whew! Great start, but the last 30 seconds went all to hell and that was that. I can’t count the number of times I have been in that position and pulled it off, but like anyone who puts themselves in the ring time and time again, you’ll win some and lose some. Emily and I had won the last three of these events together. Today, Emily won her 4th, but her dad got second putting her all alone in the 4 time Teva Games champion category! I am very proud of all of the paddlers who competed, some of which I haven’t mentioned yet.

Jessie Stone was 4th but only by a little, Niki Kelly was 5 in her Star. Greg Parker, Dane Jackson, Jonathan Shales, Jud Kaiser, Cully Brown, chris Wing, and more all performed well, but more importantly, made me proud with their attitudes and actions off the field. This world needs good role models, and I am quite proud of the way our paddlers make the world a better place for others.

Today is the 8 Ball- a Teva games exclusive event where you race boatercross but with 8 people trying to stop you as you go by. Brutal and exciting

🙂