July 31st Update

We’ve had some difficulty getting connected to the internet but this update comes to you courtesy of the Canmore Public Library.

On Saturday, the Super Slalom Sprint was held on the Kananaskis River. The race consisted of 3-4 runs for each paddler on a shortened 13 gate course with 3 upstreams. The best run for each paddler counted towards the final standings. The event was a lot of fun and something perhaps to consider in the future.

With many of the Alberta volunteers away at the Alberta Summer Games in Red Deer, our team of Glen Gifford, Jacques Migneault, Claire St-Aubin, Christine Tayler, and yours truly helped to make this event a success. With close to 70 boats entered the event was much larger than originally expected but was enjoyed by the paddlers and spectators. Claire did a magnificent job of maintaining the most complicated scoreboard ever seen while Christine and I served as section judges and timers. Glen and Jacques looked after the finish and communicating times to Claire via walkie-talkie. Race organizer Greg Hunter was very appreciative of the support received from our team.

Team Ontario and L’Equipe du Quebec had a solid day with some impressive results. The day was a great warm-up forTuesday’s slalom race..

On Sunday evening we attended a pot-luck supper at the campground with the teams from Colorado and China. The Chinese delegation remains a very important part of the tour and it was a great chance to enjoy their company and socialize in spite of their limited English skills. We took lots of pictures and hope to post some of them.

Results from the Super Sprint Race are as follows (there was a mix-up on A.G.’s time but placement is correct):

Junior KI -16
1. Francois St-Aubin (61.5)
2. J.P. Blanchette (63.5)
4. Thomas Weber-Boisvert (66.7)
5. Ian Williams (71.7)

Junior KIW
2. Kathleen Tayler (72.3)

Junior KIW-16
4. Thea Froelich (80.0)
5. Alison Gifford

KI Cadet
1. Michael Tayler (65.7)

Paul Manning Hunter recorded the fastest time of the day at 57.2 with U.S. National team member Rick Powell a close second at 57.4.