North Branch of the Potomac
April 11, 2010 -- Bloomington, MD
The Codorus Wildwater Club and Little Falls Wildwater Club will pool their resources to host a training weekend, a separate training day, and a full day of racing on the North Branch of the Potomac in West Virginia and Maryland.
The Training Weekend will be May 8th and 9th and will be aimed primarily at paddlers who have paddled wildwater boats previously, but are not experienced wildwater racers. To that end we will focus for one day on Sprint technique, and the following day on Classic technique and tactics. On Day 1 we will learn a sprint rapid, explore the merits of pacing the race in various ways, altering stroke rate both during runs and between runs, and relaxing on the whitewater while going fast. On Day 2 we will explore line selection (particularly with regard to the choice of sight lines), maintaining speed gained during rapids in flatter sections, and pacing.
We will coach in small groups (ratios of 2 or 3 pupils per instructor) and so will restrict registration for the camp to 6 unless further coaching resources become available. A nominal fee will be charged in order to cover the costs of the coaching staff. Please send an email to Chris Norbury at mhc_antigen@yahoo.com if you are interested in attending either the Training Weekend or the Training Day. Also, if you would like to volunteer to run shuttles, video, time etc please let Chris know.
The Training Day will be held on May 22nd, and will follow up on techniques and strategies learned at the Training Weekend. Prior attendance at the Training Weekend is, however, not required. On May 23rd we will hold a race on the section that has hosted the training camps, with sprint and classic timing that can be compared to times gained over the past 4 years on this course. We will also host either a mass start top to bottom run (approx 40 mins of Class II-III whitewater) or a Team Classic run (CWC vs LFWC vs assorted Team Friendsville etc). Cash prizes will be available for full classes, and entry will be $10.