Sprint Racing 101

Yesterday was the Washington Canoe Club's 2007 Masters Invitational Regatta and my first official sprint race. Typically when I go racing, I get in the boat and paddle for an hour, two, or three and then am done. There is some adrenaline at the start and maybe again some at the finish but overall the races are pretty tame (mostly because I'm always alone ...).

That is not at all the way sprint racing goes. There it is all adrenaline all the time. On Sunday there were a total of 34 races each 10 minutes apart spanning from about 9:30 am until 3:30 pm. Each race was 500 meters and every paddler could enter a maximum of eight races. Individual awards and points given were for each club. Six (+-) clubs joined us from as far north as Ontario, Canada and as far south as Georgia. At the end of the race the club with the most points wins.

Our goal was to race as much as we could and stack each event with as many WCC boats as possible. Since eight races was the max, eight is what I and the rest of the WCC folks signed up for.

Since this was my first sprint race, I wasn't sure how the process of checking in, finding your lane and lining up went, so I was relieved my first race was a K4 mixed boat. I could just follow the rest of the team and figure it out as I went along. Next, it was my K1 race. I took the Orion but opted for the low seat version to make sure I didn't inadvertantly swim on the start or do something equally embarrassing. As I approached the start line I saw Melissa there and in my class! Give me a break. I didn't have a prayer. Oh well, I finished third so a medal for me and points for the team.

Next it was on to K2 with Filippe, that was fun but we didn't do so hot. We were in the tippier VanDuehsen (sp?) and I had to drive since Filippe weighed the front down too much. Derek really has to give me driving lessons as I can't seem to steer, paddle, breathe, and balance/brace all at the same time yet.

Another K4 mixed and K2 with Rich followed in short order. Then it was time for the K1 novice class. This was, as Melissa shouted from the docks, "my race". Too bad by then I was running out of steam! Nonetheless off I went. There were only four of us in the class and three of us were WCC members. It would be a good team points race at the very least. The gun went off and I dug in hard before settling into nice long strokes. I didn't see the others but didn't turn to look either. I just kept paddling. I crossed the line in first place with a time of 2 minutes 37 seconds or something close to that. I was pleased.

I closed the day out with a K4 women's boat where again I got stuck steering and then the last race of the day the K2 mixed final with Rich. For that race Rich and I choose the slightly more stable boat and had a much better race than the first one.

As we powered over the line, I was exhausted and so glad to be done. What made the sprint so much more tiring than a distance race for me was the need to always be moving and fast -- from race to race and boat to boat. It always seemed that no sooner had I gotten back from one race and put my boat up than I was being called for another race. Staying on top of things was stressful.

Since one of the clubs which always comes down for the race is from Canada and today (Monday) is Canadian Thanksgiving there is a tradition to serve Thanksgiving dinner. While the final touches were put on dinner, awards were passed out. I got three bronzes and a gold. Not to bad for my first sprint race and WCC came out the club winner with a margin of only 8 points! I think I contributed my part!

Dinner was excellent complete with veggie stuffing, huge salads, wine galore, turkey (if you're into that ...), corn on the cob, chili, breads of all types and pumpkin pie and brownies. I dare say that WCC might put CPA to shame when it comes to paddling to eat!