GRAND PRIX – The Time Trials Experience

Keeping the momentum of the Whitewater Grand Prix going and entertaining the creeking aspect of the whitewater world, we found ourselves in the town of Shawinigan. It was time for the Extreme Race Time Trial stage. In true WWGP fashion we arrived to an intense looking slide waterfall combo pushing into a rapid. This beast of a rapid was more than intimidating with chunky rock, sticky holes, and the potential for big impact crashes.

My game plan for the event became fairly simple…pick a line that would minimize touching rock, which would slow my speed, and focus on good body positioning and effective paddle strokes. Paddling like a madman wouldn’t generate any more speed but rather use excessive energy that would be required for the finish line sprint. For me the race would not be about speed but instead a smooth line and select paddle strokes where possible.

The athlete training laps proved to very entertaining. A few swims took place and a few runs where paddlers looked like a pinball or boggle heads being bounced and kicked down the slide damaged more than a few kayaks.

Being a trailside drop within the city limits it was a perfect spectator venue and a good crowd turned up to catch a little whitewater action and the third stage of the event.

Each athlete was given 3 runs and 2 of the best runs were combined to produce a final time and placing. With the potential of carnage the athletes took turns adding to the shoreline and on water safety. This helped ease the nerves of the paddlers, as it was nice to know that your paddling buddies and fellow competitors would throw you a rope if needed.

The race turned out much better than I anticipated with a strong first and third run giving me a combined time to take a surprising 5^th place finish.

From here the group of athletes rallied into the city of Montreal to check out the big city lights and celebrate.

Tyler Curtis