'05 Thanksgiving

US Olympic Development Series: Thanksgiving Training Camp Results

The top class-adjusted finishers in each event are:

Shorts:

1^st: Eric Hurd

2^nd: Jeff Larimer

3^rd: Erik Amason

Grand Prix:

1^st: Ashley Nee

2^nd: Eric Hurd

3^rd: Benn Fraker

Loops:

1^st: Molly Stock

2^nd: Trevor & Chris Soileau

3^rd: Erik Amason

The Top 10 Finishers, and their Average Percent-Off-Leader Scores, in the overall competition are:

Eric Hurd	103%
Jeff Larimer	104%
Erik Amason	104%
Molly Stock	105%
Ashley Nee	107%
Casey Eichfeld	112%
Isaac Levinson	112%
Kristen Podolak	113%
Shaun Smith & Ben Kvanli	114%

The winners of the prize money are:

For 1^st in the Overall: Eric Hurd $150

For 2^nd in the Overall: Jeff Larimer $100

For 3^rd in the Overall: Erik Amason $75

For domination of the Class-Adjusted Shorts: Eric Hurd $50

For mastery of the Class-Adjusted Loops: Molly Stock $50

For prowess in the Class-Adjusted Grand Prix: Ashley Nee $50

Click here for the complete Thanksgiving Camp Results.

If you can't make sense of the spreadsheet, check out the "Explanation" document.

Take the time to check them out. There is potentially a lot of useful information there. For instance:

-How does your endurance compare with other athletes your age?

(times are more important than class adjusted scores and percent-off-leader)

-How do your shorts, and specifically, your ups, offsets, and reverses compare with other athletes?

-How does your straight-ahead speed through whitewater compare?

-Do you see any weaknesses?

Thanks to everyone for showing up for the camp. I’m happy about it, not only because so many people showed, up, but also because people were fired-up to paddle despite the cold weather. See you next Thanksgiving!

~ Kurt Braunlich

A big thank you to all the athletes, coaches, and volunteers that came from across the country that help make this year's US Olympic Development Camp a great success!

Forty-five whitewater slalom athletes from twelve states gathered for the annual Thanksgiving training camp on the Potomac River, Feeder Canal, and Dickerson Whitewater Course in Maryland. The Coaching staff included National Team Coach Cathy Hearn; Assistant Team Coaches Kurt Braunlich, Davey Hearn, Joe Jacobi; National Team members Scott Parsons and Brett Heyl, as well as elite paddlers Pablo McCandless and Nejc Poberaj.

It was great to see many boats in all four Olympic classes, including some new faces to slalom. These paddlers were divided in to seven different whitewater training groups, and most everyone enjoyed some meals and evening presentations together. Training sessions included chilly workouts in endurance, technique, grand prix racing, short courses, and forward stroke work. Some of the highlights included Thanksgiving dinner at the Brookmont Church, a pizza party, an Italian feast, an interactive movement presentation by Cathy Hearn, a whitewater trivia contest featuring questions from Dave Kurtz, Cathy and Davey Hearn to select cool PowerBar shirts and sox, USA Canoe Kayak polypros and jackets, plus dozens of vintage ball caps all donated by Davey.

Thank you to Kurt Braunlich for organizing the training camp and collating all the workout data.