Tiadaghton Elm race report

We drove down to Jersey Shore, PA early Saturday morning. This race is cool because A. It's on the Western branch of the Susquehanna River (very pretty) and B. All the races are 6 miles, which is markedly shorter than any other pro races during the season C. They run an amateur race on Saturday and then Sunday's c2 and c1 pro races are back-to-back with 1 hour in between.

All these factors add up to make Tiadaghton Elm my third-favorite race of the season.. and my first-favorite race to spell.

For Saturday's amateur race, I raced c2 with Holly. We went just fast enough to take second-place... which meant chatting throughout the whole thing. Our "course preview," if you will. And we invented the game of "who can finish the course with the least total distance on their GPS" for which we had an extreme advantage because we switched it up and made Holly my stern guy [stern guy steers the boat] and me the big bow guy [flexes a lot and looks tough]. When we got back to the cabin [where we stay for this race weekend] Holly's dog started freaking out and we nearly had a run-in with two bears. Marc and Dylan followed them down the road but never got close enough to "wrastle them to the ground" like they wanted.



I am terrified of bears.



Sunday was the big day. I raced c2 pro with Matt. Our typical race strategy is to sprint off the line as hard as we can go until we die, and then just try to make it to the finish line. I don't really know why we do this every time. Maybe we like to? Anyway, we led the race for a few minutes and then like clockwork, died just before the first buoy turn so we could fight through the upstream shallows while watching the first two teams pull away. Funny how that works. We ended up third behind Steve and Jeff Rankinen and Marc and Holly. We broke away from the 4th place team at the top buoy turn around this small island in the shallows. We gained 45 seconds in a matter of a few minutes and it was easily the best part of all the racing.



One hour later we hopped in c1s for the C1 pro race. I ended up 9th overall, which was great for me. My c1 has improved a lot since last year, which I believe to be a result of paddling primarily c2 since I got back from California, and getting a lot stronger since last summer. And also, not having a broken hand.


After the c1 race- because you haven't had enough- there is a c4 race. It's about 750 meters with 3 buoy turns, and everybody comes equipped with squirt guns, pirate hats, and the like. More boats flipped than stayed afloat, though we were among the latter group. We even brought Bailey [Holly's dog] along with us!

Tiadaghton Elm also has cool prizes (I won a handmade seashell necklace which I really like) and delicious pizza. It was, as all the canoeing race weekends are, a fantastic weekend.

Loyalsock Flatwater Race

I raced today in Williamsport, PA (about 3 hours from Rochester.) We left early this morning and made the gorgeous drive South. What a perfect day for canoeing!! I raced c2 with Dylan, and Marc and Holly also raced mixed c2.

A glimpse into the pre-race hilarity:

Marc and Holly walked away from the car for a bit to put drinks in the boat and Dylan poked his head around the other side of the van.
"You ready to WIN, Emily?" I looked at him blankly for a second. There were teams way out of our league here. I didn't want to be negative... but I also didn't want him to think we can just go into every race gunning for first place. He must have realized this was going through my head because all the sudden he cocked his head to the side and said,
"Wait a second... What's wrong? Who are we racing?"
"Well... Marc and Holly, for starters." (You know, just one of the top mixed pro teams of all time) Dylan furrowed his brow for one second, then burst out incredulously,
"WHAT!?!? Nobody told me that!!" When I finally stopped giggling, he smartened up and corrected himself. "Okay fine... so... are you ready to come in second!?" I just looked at him and burst out laughing again and pointed to the Rankinens (Only one of the top men's pro teams in the country.) His face fell and he gave up on trying to get me fired up.

Another highlight of the day was when Dylan didn't know that the race was 12 miles instead of 9 miles. Not to rip on him too much, though. It was good for some laughs in the boat and luckily by that time we had secured a solid 3rd place for ourselves (behind Marc/Holly and Steve/Jeff) and so the subsequent carnage during the "un-anticipated" last 3 miles was of little consequence. We had a great time, finished respectably, and look great in our new suntans.

The course itself, on the Susquehanna River, is wide and shallow. It was fairly technical, which was cool for me and Dylan because we could practice popping the boat up in the shallows and executing 3 out of 4 buoy turns with perfection (I take full responsibility for the botched turn.)

On the car ride home, Holly, Adrienne, and I chewed mouthfuls of bubble gum, which- yes- is about as gross as it sounds. However, it's a good way to pass the time and try to drown out the sound of classic rock on the radio with incessant gum-smacking.

I used to chew bubble gum in my c1 to keep from getting bored in practice because I was so far behind everyone else. Maybe I will bring that back.

new look for my new c1

Like the new look!? My personal touches include some Little Mermaid Stickers. (I may remove those...) You can't see the stern half in the picture, but if you could, you'd see that the entire boat is a practically a rainbow smorgasbord of fun stickers.

I got it done just in time for paddling tomorrow... the creek will be wicked high and fast since it's rained for two days straight. It's going to be great, in direct proportion to how much it continues to rain tonight. If I hadn't lost my waterproof pentax digital camera in California, I'd probably take photos.