Jackson Kayak

My slalom career officially changed gears from my primary focus in life from 1984-1996 to taking a major backseat and just showing up to events that seemed fun and competing since then. I made the US Team in 1997, and 1998 after that with no training, competed in 1999, and got a second place finish in the 2000 Olympic Trials as well (1 race of 3). Since then I have only been going to a few races, like in Durango, Kern, etc. because they were coupled with the freestyle events. Well, last week when I was on the Ottawa, a guy came up to me in a slalom boat and said- “Hey EJ, remember racing against me in 1989 at the Petite Nation (Quebec) Canadian Team Trials?” (an event I won, my first big win against all of North America’s best) I didn’t remember him, but he told me about the National Championships for the USA this weekend in Washington, DC at the Dickerson Whitewater Course. I love Dickerson- good solid whitewater, and a great slalom course. I moved there in 1991 to train for the 1992 Olympics in Spain when the course opened (it was configured like the Olympic course) . Believe it or not, although I have done hundreds and hundreds of workouts at this course, I have never raced there and tomorrow will be my first one!

My training regiment: I did two workouts at the course in a boat I borrowed from my great friend, Danny Stock (my slalom boat didn’t fit on the RV with all of the Jackson Kayak boats I put on it). Last night Ivan past through the area; drumming on the roof of the RV all night. I woke this morning and went straight to the top of Great Falls with our traveling buddy, Andrew Dunning (Chris Spelius’ nephew) from Idaho. Jure’, my old coach’s son, came as well for the ultimate Potomac day. We ran Grace Under Pressure at about 4.1 (high) and then paddled around ODeck and carried up to do Horseshoe (a Zambezi style big water run), very cool. I went first and tried a playboating line (surf a big hole at the top of Horshoe and peel off of it into the meat) but just missed the hole because it was too far out in the middle and almost couldn’t get back into the eddy before taking a bad line over the rocks, whew. I carried up higher and did the ferry below Charlies and this time got out into the abyss where finding the line is a little tricky, but it is actually quite safe (although not necessarily comfortable) to run it just about anywhere on the middle or right of center. I melted the big hole down and turned to catch the BIG wave below it and missed it since I didn’t have my eyes clear yet, actually I got power flipped again and washed down.

We then attempted a few big wave surfs and I finally got one really good one with a few big moves, and a powerflip to flush. We played our way down the Gorge until we got to “Difficult Run Creek” which comes in from Virginia and has two nice drops with one sweet class V at the end, “the falls”. The three of us hiked up about a mile to the top of the rapids, where Andrew took a dive, slipping in the mud and his boat went into the creek, with him close behind. His boat was a mess at the put in.

The run down was a quick slalom style run where we eddied out only to keep going immediately. When we got to the final eddy above the big drop, I asked Jure’ and Andrew if they wanted to take a quick look from water level (we scouted on the way up from about 80 feet over the river on a cliff). Andrew quickly answered, “let’s just run it.” So, a couple of paddle high fives wishing each other a good run and off I went. We all had good runs. Kristine was waiting at the take out at 1pm, we were only 3 minutes late, not bad.

This is one of the ideal Potomac River paddling days- Falls, Big Wave surfing, playboating down the gorge, and finish with Difficult Run Creek. Not exactly slalom training, but at least I am properly “tapered” for the big event.

I will enter the race with nothing to lose- no training under my belt, no expectations. I love the idea of competing against Scott Parsons and Brett Hyle (2004 Olympic Team) and the other top ranked racers of the new age. I am in good shape and will take them on head to head any day. They are trained up, and their lines should be much faster due to my lack of training in a 13 foot boat since 1996. I will try to use my whitewater skills and my long term memory to put up a good race.

Will I finish in 20th? How about top 10? How about to 5? Who knows. It will be a fun day of personal discovery; I will discover just how much training I will need to get back into the game if I decide to at any point. My kids would love slalom, perhaps I should introduce them to the sport more formally sometime soon.

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