Glenwood Wildwater Jubilee & Western US Junior Wildwater Team Trials (April 16-17) Important Update from Denny Adams |
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April 11, 2011 -- Glenwood Springs, CO Our Glenwood Canyon races this year will feature a technique clinic offered by US Senior Team Member Jeremy Rodgers. It will run from 1:00 PM until 2:30 PM. on Saturday afternoon after the Classic Race and will include skills that will help greatly in the sprint race and as well in wildwater racing in general. All junior racers and coaches are highly encouraged to take advantage of Jeremy’s generosity in offering this clinic. Specific topics include a dryland forward stroke clinic, boat outfitting, line selection/river reading, and pacing modules. Race Update: A quick visit to Glenwood Canyon yesterday (Sat. 4/9) showed the courses for next weekend’s races to be looking good. The river is currently running at a moderate flow— 3000 to 4000 and is showing a good push that still has some fast currents within the current that meander in the broader channel. Finding the fast lines on the classic course will require a trained eye with a few practice runs. There are some pourover type holes showing at Corner Rapid half way down the classic course that will need to be avoided and some moderate sized waves in three different sections of the (classic) course. Those who normally train on small rivers would do well to practice some in the waves to get used to them. Those new to the Grisly Creek Classic Course need to practice running it to best learn where and what the few must miss features are. This is not a show up and race it type run it for many if not most of our racers and those new to wildwater or to running large rivers will greatly benefit from several runs. Those new to this river also need to understand that its flows are prone to fluctuation. Two years ago the river rose a few thousand CFS overnight during the team trials. It is just as capable of dropping the same amount. The weather for this upcoming week is projected to have cool temperatures and some precipitation before warming up on Friday. We will very likely see an upward spike in the flow on Friday but how much of one and how steady it will stay over the weekend is yet to be seen. The sprint run for this year is a new one and is very easy to underrate. If one is looking for a safe line it is only marginal class II if you avoid the fast water. That should make it a safe run for beginners. If one wants to have a competitive time it will involve riding in the faster water which in turn will in necessitate having class III boat handling skills to handle the larger waves while avoiding some “must miss” features. In other words this is a friendly class II rapid for those in need of such a rapid and is more challenging for those that want to have the top times by taking the faster and more challenging lines. Without spoiling the challenge of route choosing and race strategy some sound advice is not only to be practicing your sprinting this week but as well focus on making turns at speed as the competition will likely boil down to those two performance factors. This is not a course where surviving is a skill, it will require boat moving speed to do well. As in any serious race it will be to everyone’s advantage to both scout and practice the sprint course. As always we look forward to seeing as many as possible come enjoy our races. Denny Adams
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