Waiting in the sign in eddy above the feature I was excited,
if not a little nervous. I had spent the last week and a half training at this
site to get the maximum possible points from my move list and it was to come
down to the 90 seconds of paddling that I was about to do.
I dropped down into the bottom eddy once the previous heat
had cleared. Due to the big wall on river left, the crowd of over 1000 on river
right and the massive concert speakers above the feature the noise was intense.
I tried not to focus too much on the noise or the big screen and concentrated
on staying relaxed. I find that by cheering on the other competitors and
encouraging others I paddle the best myself. Once Sebastien's 45 seconds were
over and the judges had totalled up the scores it was my go.
I can't really remember much about my rides... I was in
doing mode... not thinking, just doing. I nailed my loop and a right cartwheel
but then unfortunately flushed. My McNasty didn't quite go so my first ride
finished with a score of 103 points. The second ride was similar, a loop then a
flush. The second time however with about a second to spare I threw the McNasty
and hit it clean resulting in a better score of 250 points. Immediately knew
that I had finished 11th after my ride due to the "megatron" big
screen, I didn't know how close it was going to be however. Jez from Australia
in 10th place went through to the semis only 13 points ahead.
Considering this is my first world championships that I have
competed in I am super happy with my performance, I may have hit much better
rides in training but the experience of
repeating the same training routine for a week then the mental stresses with
waiting around is going to be extremely valuable for future competitions. The
preparation that I did on the day of competing is also valuable. Each time that
I do a competition such as this I gain valuable information about how best I
perform, this can be fed into the preparation for next time.
In the feature
Despite being knocked out of the competition, the day was by
no means over. The women's heats followed ours. Clare O'Hara put in another
brilliant performance to finish top of the women's prelims and Islay Crosbie
also got through.
The men's quarter finals also took place. We had strong
British interest in the event as all 6 of our paddlers had made it through to
the top 20 out of 71. The standard of competition was extremely high. With the
scores in the top 5 it could of been a final. Both Bren Orton and Alan Ward of
GB made it through to the semis in 8th and 9th
place respectively. Dane Jackson topped the leader board again with a
combined score of 3,106.. the first 3000 point combined 2 ride competition
score that I am aware of. Dane did this by throwing all of his moves clean and
huge... his McNastys were something special to watch (easily head dry). My ride
of the day however goes to Mathieu Dumoulin of France. He is the cartwheel
specialist and linked perfectly tricky whus, lunar orbits and phonix monkeys.
He also had time to throw a few massive McNastys and Space Godzillas to finish
with a combined score of 2,616 (2nd Place) but only 40 points behind Dane's
best ride. A round up of the day is linked below.
Day 4 Round Up - Sportscene
The next big event to follow was the 8 Ball Race. 8 Ball
Races are known for their carnage and tendency to knock teeth out... and this
one was no exception! 50 paddlers had chosen to compete in this mad race where
the aim is to get to the bottom of the course as quickly as possible... sounds
simple? It would be if it were not for the "8 Balls"... 8 heavily
padded paddlers intent on causing destruction to boat, body and ego waiting
downstream. The briefing went something like this "We will try to hurt
you. If you think you can hurt us, you are wrong. We will aim to ram you, flip
you over and ride your boat down through the feature until you swim". The
only rules for at least some margin of safety is that hands must remain on the
paddles at all times and you can not hit someone in the face with a paddle...
apart from that everything goes. Chief 8 Ball Ken Hoeve (the guy who invented
the game) did give us one bit of advice... do not end up heading down first
place!
There were 5 heats of 10 paddlers with the top two from each
going through to the final round. A brand new creek boat was on offer so
everyone was keen to win, if not a little apprehensive after seeing the carnage
of the first heat! Sitting on the start line of heat 4 I was more nervous than
for my freestyle run earlier in the day. 3, 2, 1... Go! All doubts were
forgotten and 10 crazy paddlers charged off downstream with two objectives; get
to the finish line first and do not end up as an 8 Ball's dinner!
Having seen an 8 Ball waiting near the top of the course I
decided to take the far line under the first bridge, thus avoiding the first
bout of carnage. This was a slightly longer line but did mean that I was in a
strong position (3rd ish) coming down into the main channel of damage. Ahead of
me I saw a Green Boat take out 1st place by ramming him into the bank. Paddlers
to my left were being taken out and 2nd Place got taken out by another 8 Ball
who would have gone for me otherwise. This allowed a clean sprint to the finish
line through the eddy in a relatively clean race for me. Next round... the
final.
Tactics for the final were pretty much the same, avoid the
first, let a few people go ahead and slip through to take the win. Despite
having to boof over a few playboats who had ended up 8 Balled into the middle
hole I managed to slip through just behind one person. They got nailed and I
headed for the right line again. Sprinting to get back into the flow to cross
the line Matt Hamilton managed to break through the carnage and being in the
flow just piped me to the line by a boat length + a bit. Great fun! Video of my
heats bellow (Im paddling the blue boat sporting the Nookie TI Vest and much
needed elbow pads)!
8 Ball Race - My heat and final
Overall a brilliant day... more semi-finals today so keep an
eye out on the live feed!
Josh
