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Jessica's Kayak Slalom Photo Album |
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U.S. SENIOR TEAM TRIALS April 21-23, 2006 South Bend, Indiana
“Flush gates — you can run them anyway you want….right?”
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I looked forward to the Senior Team Trials as a practice race for Junior Trials in April. Three days of racing three different courses — should provide good racing experience for me. I’ve been paddling slalom for just over two years now and the Senior Trials provides a great opportunity to acquire new skills in a race environment. The first day’s course I named “Flush” as I learned how to run them! This course featured FOUR flush gates. I’ve already run a couple of flush gates before, but they have always been setup in such a way as you navigated the natural line through them; however, one gate required the paddler to go against the natural line in its sequence to other gates, and I guess I got….flushed! I always promised to myself that as long as I felt good and fast by the time I cross the finish line, it was an acceptable run in my book. Day two’s course I called “Paddler’s Choice” as the course gave the racer the opportunity to decide which line to run in certain sections of the course. The “hero” route could save time, but had risks. The slower route was conservative, but cost time. Day three’s course I nicknamed “Gimme” as it was so straightforward, you could almost shoot straight down the course with an arrow! Fast, fast, fast!
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That’s me charging gate 16 of the third day of Senior Trials. This was a very fast course. Just lean forward, and sprint to the finish! |