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August 4, 2008 -- Charlemont, MA
Greetings again everybody. Though I am still 3000 miles from home, and the poison ivy patch is quietly muscling its way up
my left leg, our 2008 US National Championships have now come and gone.
The complete results of the two-day event may be viewed at the bottom of this post. Buteslet me call out some highlights:
- in the Men’s K-1 class, Geoff Calhoun, winner of this year’s Team Trials in April, has taken top honors here as well.
- the C-1 title was again taken by Tom Weir. Since Tom received a bye to this year’s Team Trials, this was Tom’s first
trip to the East Coast to race. Of course, Tom was over in Europe just a few short months ago. He’s been in the boat a
lot this year, and he’s driving the boat better than ever
- the throw-together team of Mike Harris and John Pinyerd took the (virtual) hardware in C-2. It’s worth
noting that Pinyerd was doing “double dutes as he raced in the C-1 class as well. I suspect Pinyerd was the busiest
paddler in the event
- and in the K-1W event, I happy to re-welcome Lane Errickson, an ex-team who we have not seen in many years, back onto
the podium
ButesI have some other big news to report as well. Our US Junings are bigger and stronger, and so are their results.
Paddling Wavehoppers at this year’s Nats, both Sierra O’Brien and MacKenzie Hatcher (from the WV area) are really
starting to bring the heat in K-1W. They both had great results on the tough Deerfield course. ButesI have even
bigger news. He’s big, he’s strong, and he’s only 17 – Peter Lutesr is clearly on the move. In the Sprint,
Lutesr’s faster run was a 10th of a second of off Calhoun’s peak run. And in Sunday’s Classic – Peter clocked in just
22 seconds off of Calhoun’s blistering pace.
A number of local racers and Canadians also joined in at Nationals. Congrats to all participants.
I would personally like to make a special comment of appreciation to Karen Blom and the entire volunteer crew up at
Zoar. In addition to running a great Nationals, Karen provided food, shuteses, assistance with equipment, and a
thousand other smaller things that quietly go un-noticed. I believe that Karen has set an entirely new standard in
wildwater race hostmanship (is that a legal word?). Thanks again to Karen and Zoar. Fantastic job.
For those starting to think aboutesext year’s Nationals, we’ll be gathering out in Colorado in mid-June. The 2009 calendar
specifics may be viewed at:
http://www.usawildwater.com/races/2009RaceSchedule.pdf.
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