Adventures
in the Slalom Kayak Circuit - Volume II
The 2004 Missouri Whitewater Championships
-Adam L. VanGrack
This past weekend was my last slalom race before Olympic Trials (the 37th Missouri Whitewater Championships), and it was quite an adventure. While I had attempted the flying/car rental route to the Midwest earlier this year (see Volume I), I decided to drive my own car this time. You can decide which method was... umm... easier.
Within 2 hours of my start (of the 15+ hr. drive), a blinding (two days before Spring) snow storm occurs. When I say blinding, I mean that at 40 MPH all I could see were the huge sized snowflakes. At this point my useless (because she was pretty much scared to drive and scared to watch me drive) travel partner begins to freak out because she thinks we are going to crash. We (eventually) make it out of the snowstorm and limp over the Mississippi River and into Missouri in time to drop our stuff off at the hotel and lay on the bed for an hour or so.
Off to the race site for practice... Within 30 minutes I'm exhausted, I haven't even gotten in my boat (and the gates aren't up) but I can hardly walk. I get something to eat and when the gates are finally up, I grab my boat.
The water level at the race site on the St. Francis River was pretty low, so I knew I had to take my (glass) raceboat slow and easy (to ensure that it wasn't damaged and to make sure I could successfully race it on race day). I did hit a few rocks, but also took it very easy. At the end of this first course run (and after deciding that it might be too low to risk damaging my raceboat at full-race-speed), I noticed that my legs and butt felt very wet. I got out of my boat to notice fish swimming in my boat and a large hole at the bottom of my boat (this is the point at which you are suppose to say: "Adam, why in the world did you take your raceboat out on a low water course two weeks before Olympic Trials!?!"). I'm stubborn, OK?
Well, since I still needed to check out the course, I take out my plastic boat which I had borrowed from a friend and that I had never paddled before. It takes me well over an hour to change the seat and re-outfit the boat for my size... Finally, I get back on the river. My frustration catches up with me as, within 15 minutes of being on the river again, I flip over and smack my face on a rock (probably the very same raceboat-spearing rock). No blood or massive facial distortions, but my pride took a pretty hard blow. Nonetheless, utterly exhausted as well as frustrated, and after almost wishing I never had thought to come to Missouri, I run the course a few more times and decide that it's finally time to head to bed.
But wait! I have to deal with my "holey" raceboat... I find a friend of mine (from Missouri) who is willing to help me with a preliminary fix for my boat. We do a slight patch at his house and then I finally (now very late) am able to go to bed.
The races on Saturday went very well. I had the two fastest times of the day on the course in a boat I had never paddled until the day before. This gave me the Gold Medal (1st Place) in the Kayak (K1) Men's Expert Class (i.e., Missouri State Champion).
Sunday's races were the fun plastic classes and as soon as I was done with my last course run, I sprint with my boat to my car with the hopes of making a fast exit, since I still had 15+ hours of driving to do before I make it into work on Monday. I get things loaded and go back to the hotel (where my travel partner is, because -according to her- the races on Saturday were kind of "boring"). On the road again, things were proceeding rather well... until we reach the half-way point in Ohio. Then, another freak springtime snowstorm is so bad that from 1am to 4am the state police completely shut down I-70 and I have to spend three hours in my car in a very cold and packed-with-cars I-70 rest-stop going nowhere. Then, when they finally open up the interstate, a truck driver had fallen asleep blocking the exit to the rest-stop. After almost another half-hour of massive attempts to rouse the coma-sleeping truck driver, we were able to get on the road. This is where I express extreme thankfulness for Subaru's All Wheel Drive as I was able to get some traction on the snow and ice covered roads. Eventually (much later than expected) we limped back into the Washington, D.C. area well after rush hour with the significant hopes that my "holy" raceboat can be made "race ready" sometime during the week.
Oh well... no one every said slalom kayaking was easy.
