and
Western US Jr. Wildwater Team Trials
The Glenwood Wildwater Jubilee Races went well this past weekend. This Jubilee was our sixth and each year they grow in both numbers and in overall quality of the paddling. Starting out as an intimate club recreational outing aimed at promoting wildwater it has evolved into a regional level race with this year's event having 23 racers representing six club teams. This year we had kids competing for the Western US Junior Team, for the Western Wildwater Cup Series Points, for the Colorado High School Cup Series, and as well we had recreational class racers that were having their own downriver event. As with almost every Wildwater race in Colorado adult classes are included with a great value placed on having their example serve to promote our sport to our developing racers.
Qualifying for the Western US Jr. Team in the K-1 M Jr. class were Spencer Lacy, Cully Brown, and JP Griffith with Patrick Gauder serving as the alternate. Spencer and JP both qualified for the second time and Spencer had the fastest times for all classes in both the sprint and classic races. While being from opposite sides of Colorado both Spencer and Cully have a common quality of being top level Nordic Ski Racers, another high fitness sport that we should promote as one to cross train in. Qualifying in the K-1W jr. class were Peyton Heitzman and Samantha Cole-Johnson. Sam qualified last year as a back-up alternate and prevailed in the longer classic race. Peyton is a local paddler who trains on not just Shoshone but on other pushy and technical rivers. Peyton did better on the challenging sprint course.
For the second straight year we had a gender-barrier breaking performance put in by the C-2 W team of Sarah Niemeyer and Cassidy Sainsbury. Last spring the girls successfully raced in high water and foul weather at the Western Team trial. While the ICF and USACK now recognizes C-2W as a class, as the US has since title IX was enacted, Cassidy and Sarah are still outside of the box and didn't not enjoy a great amount of acceptance or credibility outside of that in our own region. The condensed version of their tale is that the girls had no C-2W race to compete in at the Jr. World Championships, nor openings for recognition as forerunners at this event. This past weekend Cassidy and Sarah ran the upper section of Shoshone, described by most familiar with it as a "World Cup Race"caliber wildwater course. They were credible in the classic race as well finishing within a couple of percentage points of their K-1W Jr. peers. Sarah and Cassidy join three other Colorado junior female wildwater canoeists in recent years who have stood alone on the podium at Nationally and Internationally sanctioned wildwater races having raced in recognized events. Until others show up and do the women's events better they are the best on the Planet in what they do. Not many high school age kids san make that claim. However humble the recognition, congratulations again girls, you are still without fears and definitely without peers. Congratulations to all qualifiers for making the Western US Jr. Wildwater team.
The Jubilee however is about more than the team trials. This event had paddlers from all over representing a group of clubs (Dawson School, CRMS, Durango Whitewater, Gunnison, Whitewater Engineering-Team Lacy, and Great Blue Heron; that have differing agendas and focuses. For all of the diversity every racer/boater there has an accomplishment to be proud of and hopefully a sense of the challenges and rewards that wildwater offers. I was very impressed with the positive attitude, the maturity, and the paddling abilities shown by those in the recreational kayak and open canoe classes. It is easy to point at the kids with years of race experience who are on a track of becoming senior level wildwater racers and to be awed. (What you were doing for fun at age 16?) I was just as impressed at our event this year by the kids who came in from a different track, who will be running Cataract Canyon in a few weeks, or who are more focused on Nordic skiing at the time, or who are aiming to doing well in the US Open Canoe Nationals on the Ark this summer. We wish them well in those endeavors and invite them back for future wildwater races as well.
Sprint Race
| 1st run | 2nd run | Total | |
| K-1 Men | |||
| Spencer Lacy | 1:38 | 1:39 | 3:07 |
| Mason Lacy (K-1 Sr) | 1:43 | 1:46 | 3:29 |
| Cully Brown | 1:47 | 1:45 | 3:32 |
| Jeremy Rogers(K-1Sr) | 1:47 | 1:48 | 3:35 |
| JP Griffith | 1:50 | 1:59 | 3:49 |
| K-1W | |||
| Traci Click | 2:13 | 2:15 | 4:28 |
| Peyton Heitzman | 2:12 | 2:17 | 4:29 |
| Samantha (Sam) Cole-Johnson | 2:25 | 2:37 | 5:02 |
| C-2 W | |||
| Sarah Niehmeyer/Cassidy Sainbury | 2:50 | 2:50 | 5:00 |
| K-1 M Rec | |||
| Juan Pablo Alcocer | 2:06 | 2:02 | 4:08 |
| Andy HallovanTaylor | 2:03 | 2:06 | 4:09 |
| Weaver Froelicher | 2:09 | 2:08 | 4:17 |
| Devon DaPuzzo | 2:18 | 2:23 | 4:41 |
| Kyung Joon "KJ" Min | 2:25 | 2:25 | 4:50 |
Classic Race
| K-1 Men | |
| Spencer Lacy | 13:35 |
| Jeremy Rogers (K-1 Sr.) | 13:36 |
| Mason Lacy (K-1 Sr) | 14:01 |
| Gary Lacy (K-1 Sr.) | 14:09 |
| Cully Brown | 14:14 |
| JP Griffith | 14:56 |
| Peter Benedict (K-1 Sr) | 15:19 |
| Patrick Gauder | 16:41 |
| K-1W | |
| Traci Click | 15:38 |
| Samantha (Sam) Cole-Johnson | 17:04 |
| Alex Reeves | 17:07 |
| Peyton Heitzman | 17:41 |
| C-2 W | |
| Cassidy Sainsbury/Sarah Niemeyer | 17:23 |
| OC-2 Rec | |
| Zach Gallop/Conner Gafner | 17:39 |
| Nathan Leslie/Evan Cornish | 24:21 |
| K-1 Rec | |
| Ethan Cranner | 17:08 |
| Devon DaPuzzo | 18:30 |
Photos
(click on any image to see a larger version)
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |