| Will Grubb |
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Reply with quote | #1 |
Today is Friday, race day. I woke up pretty early this morning, took a shower and headed down for breakfast. Unfortunately, there was a wedding the night before, and that kept us up till around two o clock. The breakfast was great, as always, and I was looking for ward to a day of racing. At demos the previous night I felt confident about the course even though I had only been training there for a week. There was only one move I was concerned about but confident I could make it.
We got to the course, watched pre runners, and I got I my boat for my warm up and flat water paddle. I felt pretty good but when I heard the beeps in the start gate and saw my name on the jumbotron I was pretty nervous.
I was on the course, off to a good start the first three gates went great and I was confident just when the tip of my bow nicked the bottom of the gate. If it had been a clear tough or even a whack I would have been ok, but my bow just barely nicking the gate made me mad. I really started driving and I made the next few gates just fine.
There it was. The move I thought about and anticipated most, the hole move. You had to hit the hole left and have it lateral you right for a tight offset couple gates. I worried too much about getting on that lateral and making it through the hole that I forgot about the next couple gates. This is what Chris always tells me, “Always think two gates ahead”. I was thinking about only that one gate and that screwed me up. I missed one of the offset gates and had too loop for it. It was not the end of the world, but kind of a bummer.
From there on out wasn’t great, but then again, considering my experience on artificial whitewater, wasn’t bad. I had some trouble with broily water, and was really tired at the end from looping and fighting current, but I finished.
Now, for my second run the goal was, how to keep diving through everything and staying forward in my boat. My second run I was a lot less nervous and I did pretty well. I got all the gates, nailed the move I was having trouble with in the hole, and I started to connect things.
Ultimately, my race wasn’t great but the goal was to get international experience and be able to paddle and learn from some of the best athletes in the world. I think I have achieved this goal and come away with a lot physically and mentally. I can match myself up to other athletes that I will be competing against if I make junior team, and I have seen what it takes to race at a really high level.
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