South Bend Junior Olympics & US Cup Final 2005
Updates courtesy Mike Hickey via Chuck Hines
August 1 - It was a super success! It all
started with the invite to our Canadian
Neighbors and the designation of the Junior Olympics as the Cub-Cadet and
Cadet National Team qualifier. The acceptance and attendance of the Canadians
really ratcheted up the competition. I've been doing this for four years and I
have
never seen such a level of slalom expertise in the JO's. The rodeo classes and
competition were a blast thanks to the sponsorship of our good friends at
Pyranha Kayaks. We had over 20 competitors. On Thursday we used the Pyranha
boats for the Boater Cross Grand Slalom (BGCS). Over 40 Kids competed in the
preliminaries. We started w/ a team draft to even the playing field and ran in
heats of 3 at a time. Winners went on to a Team Smack-Down. The rules were:
One hand on the paddle at all times, paddlers must make all the gates.
Paddlers were permitted to grab spray skirts, grab loops and boats, all other
contact was prohibited. Break a rule or miss a gate and the result would be a
DQ. The course was two swirly up gates and a final finish gate. The kids loved
this! The highlight
of the event was the "rumble on the raceway". Canadian Kathleen Taylor was
headed for a win in the Jr. women's final when she was ambushed by Colleen
Hickey going for the spay skirt. Kathleen won the rumble pulling Colleen's
skirt and sinking her boat. In the mean time Cadet Anna Periotti from Durango
slipped by and took the gold. Friday was The Down River sprints. We had
three boat classes; Wildwater boat, Slalom Boat, and Plastic boats. There were
three age groups: Cub-Cadets, Cadets and Juniors and a split for male and
Female.
FRPA dominated this event with the most participants and points. Alex Dodge
set the pace with the fastest time of the day. Saturday was the Junior Olympic
Slalom. We started off with Erin Eichfeld singing the Canadian and USA
National Anthems. The level of Competition was intense. There was a true
international flavor. The Canadians really put the pressure on the US paddlers
and the results went right down to the wire. NRC won the Chuck Hines first
place trophy and Mach One took second. We split the Canadians into provinces
and Ontario won the Chuck Hines trophy. When it was all said and done, events
over and points tallied the Ray McClain River-Meister was Tyler Hinton
Cub-Cadet from FRPA and the River-Meisterin went to Colleen Hickey. FRPA took
the River-Meister club trophy. It was a great Junior Olympics.
Here's a link to all
of the Results.
7/28/05 via Chuck Hines
According to reports from South Bend, the 2005 Junior Olympic Championships started off with a bang. The initial event was the new rodeo or freestyle competition held on July 27. Said competition director Mike Hickey, "The rodeo went off without a hitch with 20+ competitors and lots of spectators. Coach Greg Hunter from Alberta, Canada, said, " Rodeo looked like lots of fun, with quite a few kids and coaches competing. The demo boats worked out well and they had good prizes." Results of the JO Rodeo were as follows: Juniors - 1, Andrew Jobe, Alberta, Canada; 2, Casey Eichfeld, Mach One (PA); 3, Jeffrey Poe, NRC; 4, Jeff Gette, Mach One; 5, Austin Kieffer, NRC; plus many other entries. Cadets - 1, Elliot Poe, NRC; 2, Michael Taylor, Ontario, Canada; 3, Rogan Brown, NRC. Cubs - 1, Cully Brown, NRC; 2, Tyler Hinton, Front Range (CO). Coaches - 1, Matt Taylor, Atlanta; 2, Ben Kvanli, Red River (TX); 3, Pablo McCandless, NRC; plus others. Club Standings (Very Unofficial) - 1, NRC; 2, Alberta and Atlanta, tied; 4, Front Range and Mach One and Ontario and Red River, all tied. Today, new boater cross grand slalom is being conducted. Here are a few of the quotes from the top leaders there in South Bend: Mike Hickey (IL): "We're all very busy ... Rodeo went off without a hitch..." Greg Hunter (Alberta): "Rodeo looked like a lot of fun...quite a few kids and coaches...the demo boats worked out well...they had good prizes..." Ben Kvanli, 1996 Olympian (TX): "The weather has been very nice. NRC, Front Range, Red River, Mach One and now BCE all have athletes and coaches here... the Canadians are really making the competition interesting...everyone is finding a way to get along, and 50% of the athletes are participating so far in the new events... the South Bend Parks/Rec Dept has been very supportive of the entire event..."
Day one of Junior Olympic training went off with
out a hitch. The kids and coaches from Front Range Paddling Association
arrived at 8:30 am. Nantahala Racing Club coaches and Kids arrived shortly
there after. A few of the Canadian contingent were also in attendance. Water
was on and gates set by 9:30. To ease the jitters, practice began with a swim
from the top of the course to the bottom. The coaches convened a quick
meeting, agreed on water usage and the boats were launched. At 12:00 noon we
had a formal coaches meeting. The meeting included our Freestyle Colleagues
from Pyranha who showed up with 12 boats. We discussed training times, water
levels, Rodeo classes, rodeo event, Boater Cross Grand Slalom, Down River and
Slalom. The afternoon session included a low water time from 1:30 to 2:30 to
accommodate the cub cadets and let the rodeo folks test out some features.
Clubs resumed training at 3:30. The Freestyle coaches from Pyranha held their
first clinic at 5:00 pm. It was a huge success. 14 kid, in freestyle boats,
split up into 2 groups for a 1.5 hour rodeo class. It was
great, Huge parent pleaser. The kids love this stuff. I may even take a class
today!
The current South Bend East Race Waterway schedule of events will be:
Rodeo: 12:00 noon on Wednesday
Boater Cross Grand Slalom: 5:00 pm Thursday
Down River Sprints: 1:00 to 3:30 pm on Friday
Slalom Course Set up and Demos 4:00 to 7:00 pm Friday
Saturday is the Junior Olympics Slalom
Sunday is US Cup #4
