Denver Flat Water Challenge results

Dear All,

We went to our first competition this Saturday. After departing with sunny
skies and 60 degrees in t-shirts, 20 degrees and snowing was a harsh
reminder of spring in the rockies. After a brief pep talk in Denver, Tom,
Andy, and Shawn paddled some freestyle while Molly, Jessie, Brooke, Joan and
I paddled Slalom. The freestyle was okay and after testing out all the
features and the air temperature we decided to lobby to not have the
freestyle event. The slalom course on the other hand provided a great place
to learn the basics of slalom. We practiced offsets, ups, and dive gates.
The girls picked these concepts up well. The Freestyle was okay with some
good front surfing and spinning. However, it is hard to put your heart into
it when you don't want to flip over.

Race day was cold and snowy. We discussed strategy and course memorization.
This was important as the course was a little confusing. Many of the gates
that were not being used were frozen to the wires and could not be moved.
We practiced visualizing runs and waited for our turn to paddle by the fire.
Each student improved their time between first and second runs. In Slalom
you earn a raw time and then they add any touches (2 seconds) or missed
gates (50 seconds) on to your time. Our kids both brought down their raw
time and cleaned up their runs. In this race it was best run that counts.
In women's, we place took 2nd Joan 164 seconds, 3rd Jessi 167 sec, 4th Molly
170.19 seconds, and Brook 170.65 seconds. Very impressive for a first run.
Anders was our fastest guy with 129.97, Andy had a fast raw time 137 but
missed several gates. Shawn improved his time greatly and had a clean second
run with a time of 155 seconds. Steve Holmes, father of Molly also braved
the cold to have the fastest CRMS time 105.47 in his C-1. Steve and I also
won C-2 with a time of 126.93.

The Front Range Paddle folk took good care of us keeping us feed with
burgers and warmed by the fire. Hopefully we will not need this at our
race. It was a cold hard couple of days but I think we all learned
something. Like don't forget your Sorels.

I was sorry to miss the band concert. I am sure it was a special evening
back here on campus as well. But probably a lot warmer.

Peter

PS I attached the score sheet to this email. It will also be up on the
kayak board tomorrow.

Shoshone Log removal

Last week we noticed a fairly hefty tree resting on a rock in the main flow on Shoshone. April 11th, a CRMS crew came armed with rope and pulleys to remove said fairly hefty tree. The log was located just below "Entrance Exam" on Shoshone. The log was pinned against a large boulder in the middle preventing eddy access, so we boyscout pulled it with about 8 people and it came out easy. The log was stored against the river-left bank in an eddy and it is up and out of the way, its not going anywhere!

Denver flatwater challenge

Dear all,

We have our first competition this weekend. Here is the website for the race. I will handle event registration.

Denver Flatwater Challenge

We will depart Friday morning.
8:00 meet at the kayak shed
10:00 Paddle at new Avon Whitewater Park
2:00 Arrive 20th street flatwater training center
6:00 Dinner out
8:00 Arrive at homestays
8:02 lights out everyone asleep

Saturday April 7th
7:30 Wake up
8:30 Arrive 20th street flatwater training center
9:00 Competitor meeting
1:30 Awards
2:00 Depart for home
6:00 Arrive back home, usually we will get back closer to 8:00 or 9:00.

Unfortunately not everyone can go because of the spring band concert. If you would like to attend the race it is near the Denver Skate Park. I will be getting directions soon. But here is a link to a map.

Denver skate park map

Call or email with Questions

Peter