Hi Chris,
wow, great topic. I guess I didn't get a chance to meet you at the Open Boat Nationals. But, back to the topic. I've always liked to both race and run rivers. For me, they're inseperable. But I just love to race - that's how I am. And I love to really push it on big water too. If I wasn't a canoe racer, I'd probably be racing motorcycles, and before I was a canoe racer, I was a ski racer. And before I was running class V in C-1 I was pushing it all the time on the ski slopes, and mountain biking. Guess it's just how I am.
Allow me to demonstrate how the love of rec paddling and racing go together for me: Last weekend I raced in the qualifiers of the Closed Boat Nationals in Charlotte, and made it through to the C-1 Finals the next day. As the Finals weren't being held until 7pm, I headed over and ran the Green Narrows that morning and then raced in the Finals that evening. It was a great day of whitewater to say the least!
As Bob mentioned, I too love to train. I love being an athlete and planning ahead for the whole year what I'm going to do.
Most of the guys I go rec boating with aren't into racing. I think most of them just aren't that interested in competing.
Finally, as to the question of why would I race on a river rather than running it? I can see both sides of this. For instance, I think many racers see a race out in Durango as little more than two weeks of traning on the same 200 yard stretch. Um . . . I feel a little different! But at the same time, the OC Nationals were held on the NANTAHALA. That's right. I think the drive down to NC is more exciting than just cruising down that river. Slalom racing (or downriver) with all my friends makes it fun enough to merit a 7 hour drive, especially races over three days. The same is true for half these rivers I've raced on - the Esopus, Farmington, Housy, Blackwater, Mascoma - you would never catch me crusing down those rivers, and if you did, I would be snoozing! But park a slalom race on there, and it's a whole different story.
Is that why racing is an Eastern thing sometimes?
Alden
Why don't most of us race?
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Have been a bad slalom racer for much of my paddling life. Sometimes there are gates hung over the best class 2 on the metro Chattahoochee, but I don't need gates. I have developed practice routes through several of the rapids that are similar in character to the easy slalom courses I prefer.
My other attraction to racing is that a racing boat moves around the river more effectively that other boats I have paddled. I get impatient with my other boats when they don't cooperate the way my Zealot does.
My other attraction to racing is that a racing boat moves around the river more effectively that other boats I have paddled. I get impatient with my other boats when they don't cooperate the way my Zealot does.