Junior Olympics
United States Canoe and Kayak Junior Olympic Program, 2008
By David Kurtz, Chairman
[Note: I refer to the report for the 2007 Junior Olympic Festival for basic information about the program which includes the qualification races and events, the 2-year age groups, and details of the events themselves]
BACKGROUND
The United States Canoe and Kayak Junior Olympic (JO) Program promotes youth participation in slalom racing beyond local and regional competition. The program seeks to provide an entry level cadet-focused slalom championship in which Junior, Cadet, and Cub Cadet athletes who are successful at the local level can compete and measure themselves against top young slalom athletes from North America, the United States and elsewhere. Its basic structure is to have fun in a variety of whitewater activities and let the competition take care of itself.
SPECIFIC ASPECTS OF THE 2008 JUNIOR OLYMPICS FESTIVAL PROGRAM
General Schedule
July 3 was the official sign-in start of the 2008 Junior Olympics Festival. It took place at the Thompson residence in Stevens Point, a city 30 miles south of Wausau.
The crew ran a stretch of the Wolf River.
July 4 saw the running of the Stevens Point Slalom situated on the Plover River. This slalom served as a qualification slalom for the later events, particularly for doubles canoes. A total of 38 boats braved the wild waters of Class I.
In the evening we went to the Stevens Point fireworks show on the banks of the Wisconsin River. Nice event with staged bands and foods.
July 5. The "Plover Palooza!" Kids divided up into teams, each team had a mix of boys, girls, cadets, juniors, Americans, Canadians, easterners, and westerners. Each team chose a cheer and decorated their helmets with plant materials and tape. They had to do their cheer and explain their decoration and team name. We had the Daisies, Narwhals, the Maple Leafs, and the Reindeers... Then, each team did a staggered start – In the shallow water of the Plover River’s outlet into the lake the kids had to push/drag/pull their boats across a sand bar, then get in and paddle backwards about 100 yards, do a roll, then paddle forward about quarter-mile to the end of the lake, and then get out of the boat. The kids then had to balance a ball on their paddle while they ran about 20 yards, then find and pick up a quarter in the grass, then run about 1/4 mile into a woods, find a candy in the "treasure chest" hidden in woods, run back to their boat, get in, paddle 150 yards to the beach finish line. Then, lunch and drinks!
The day finished with an accuracy throw-bag contest...Within one minute each tried to toss the bag into a floating hoop on the lake about 30 feet out.
July 6, Sunday, was the move up day to Wausau where most moved into the YMCA camp there for free dorm-type lodging. Some camped on a lake nearby at Marathon Park or moved into motels. We wanted to use the time for a jousting contest, but then had to wait until the evening of the next day, Monday.
July 7. The water was on at the Wausau Whitewater Park starting Monday, July 7 for the rest of the week. We held the Extreme Slalom (really a super sprint) on the course. It had 13 gates and the water flow, as also for the rest of the week was at 650- cubic feet/second. A total of 60 traversed the course. It was also a doubles canoe qualification race for the slalom championships later on the weekend. The original intention of this type of event was to allow an unlimited number of runs by an individual. However, we didn’t have enough time for that and each kid was limited to two runs, the better one counting for the standings.
We also held a jousting event in the evening. Contestants stood in a play boat which was supported by another kid standing in still water. The jousting weapon was a 6-foot noodle of 4-inch diameter. The winner was the one who stood the longest. We had about 15 contestants for this fun event. Kyle Palmer-Charette was proclaimed the winner by a wide margin.
July 8, Tuesday. We acclimatized to the water at Wausau by holding the Boatercross event on Tuesday afternoon, the morning having been spent in general practice and training. The event was highly successful. Two cadet girls took part for the single girls team. 21 boys divided up into a cub cadet team, two cadet teams, two junior 16 teams and a junior team. The larger cadet and junior 16 teams had a preliminary run with the top 2 in each group vying for the top 4 places.
July 9, Wednesday. On each of the days of the week we reserved the 2-hour period around the lunch hour for wildwater runs alone...either in wildwater boats or slalom boats. On this day we held the Wildwater Spring runs. These were run from the top of the dam through the slalom course to the normal slalom finish line. 48 boats ran the sprint. Times were calculated by dividing the time by the fastest time of the boat class multiplied by 100. There was only one second difference between the wildwater boats and the slalom boats in both the men’s and women’s classes which probably shows some inexperience in paddling the wildwater boat.
July 10, Thursday. This was the day for the wildwater classic run. We started at the normal start above the dam, ran through the slalom course, and then continued onto the main Wisconsin River past and around a large island. Then the boats continued up-river on the channel between the island and the eastern shore. The runs were about 10 times the time for the sprint course. A total of 43 boats competed. In this case the slalom boats were considerably slower than the wildwater boats. The calculation of results was the same as with the sprint runs.
The final scores in the wildwater event was the sum of the percentage times as calculated above. This is the method that the National Wildwater Committee uses for their events. The two numbers were surprisingly similar suggesting that the variances were similar. Each boat had to have both a sprint and a classic score to win a place in the wildwater event.
July 11, Friday. Preliminary trials for the freestyle events were run on Friday while the championship slalom was being set up. This allowed for a shorter time for the freestyle finals to be run at the very end of the Festival week.
We tried a new type of freestyle for those newer paddlers who either didn’t have an Eskimo roll or were inexperienced in the freestyle type of paddling. This wave surfing allowed participation for those who didn’t have a roll or much experience sitting on a wave and earning points for simple moves or for the time spent on the wave. Points were earned for those actions.
July 12-13, Saturday and Sunday morning. The Slalom Championship Competition was held over two days, the events of the first day being primarily individual events. On the second day on the same course were held primarily doubles canoe events. Also on the second day were held singles canoe and kayak events for a second class in singles boats. In this way the youth could compete in two classes on different days.
We eventually had 35 men’s and 6 women’s kayak runs, 8 men’s and 4 women’s singles canoe runs, 8 men’s doubles canoe, one women’s doubles canoe and 3 mixed doubles canoe runs for a total of 64.
Detailed data for each of these events is presented in the data portion of this report.
Awards
The Hines-Dickert-Kurtz Coachs’ Cup. This award is calculated on the basis of points earned in each age-class of the Junior Olympic Championship Slalom held under ICF rules. A nice trophy is suggested for the top team. The individual winners of each age-class event will accumulate points for their respective teams as follows: First place 5 points, second place 3, third place 2, and fourth place 1 point. Ties will be broken by determining first which team has the most persons scoring points for the team and second by determining the team that entered the competition with the most athletes.
The Mach One Slalom Team won this award this year.
The Ray McLain Awards. These awards are three-fold: A single award for the top team or club, a Rivermeister, and a Rivermeisterin. That is the way Ray talked about the sport and it is a tribute for the great work he did for slalom.
The Ray McLain Team Award includes the teams/clubs from both the US and Canada. The individual winner of each age-class event will get 5 points, second place 4, third 3, and fourth place 2 point. Additional entries for the team earn 1 point for each one. A nice trophy is suggested for this top team. This is the winner take all All-Around Team Championship and will be presented to the single team or club scoring the most cumulative points in all events.
The Mach One Slalom Team won this award this year.
For the 2006 Festivals and beyond two individual awards have been presented. A River Meister and a River Meisterin Award are to be calculated and presented to the top boy and girl earning the most points for his or her team.
Hailey Thompson and Tyler Hinton won their respective awards this year.
Starting in 2006 we also awarded the Olympic Spirit Award. It is presented to the athlete who, over the course of the Junior Olympic events expresses outstanding sportsmanship, leadership, and demonstrates the values and ideals of the Olympic spirit. In essence it is the athlete who is the best role model at the events. The decision should be made by the coaches at the event. The trophy is a traveling award, and has a plaque inside it where the name and year of the recipient is engraved.
Hailey Thompson was presented the Olympic Spirit Award this year.
The points for each of the kids participating are shown in the data portion of the report. There are two listings for individual points, one showing the highest point earners at the top and the other alphabetical. Team points are also shown in the included table.
Cadet Teams
We were very fortunate in getting approval by all three National Sport Committees to be able to name National Cadet Teams in each of Slalom, Wildwater, and Freestyle sports. The cub cadets and cadets were combined. The numbers named by class were 4 in kayaks, 3 in singles canoes, and 2 each of the three types of doubles canoes.
Each of the members named received a school-type backpack with the USACK logo and the 2008 JO Festival Logo (designed by Hailey Thompson) embroidered on the pack. Also 3-inch embroidered patches for each sport were presented to the kids in that sport’s team.
The names of each of the members of the respective teams are listed in the data portion of this report.
Paddlesport Team
A US and a Canadian Paddlesport team was named. It included the first three places in each age class and boat class. The membership amounts to a pre-qualification for the 2009 Festival. The individuals on these teams are given in the data portion.
Participants
We had a total of 49 kids participating, 41 from the US and 8 from Canada. While we were disappointed in the drop ion numbers, from the previous year, we felt that the huge rise in gasoline prices was the primary reason for the loss in numbers.
2009 Junior Olympic Festival
The 2009 Festival has been scheduled for Ontario Canada in the period of July 4-12. Here are the details:
July 4-5 (Sat.-Sun.) The JO Festival will commence at the Gull Fest in Minden, the paddling park in the woods that has terrific paddling opportunities for a wide range of skills. There will be a slalom there. as well as a boater cross and freestyle.
July 6-7 (Mon.-Tues.) Will be open for training, probably at the Madawaska MKC Camp. Slalom, freestyle, and DR
July 8 (Wed.) Will have some downriver/wildwater races along with a slalom
July 9 (Thur.) Is open for training at MKC and also the possibility of a nice river run on the Ottawa River
July 10 (Fri.) Will be the freestyle events in Ottawa.
July 11-12 (Sat.-Sun.) Will be at Ottawa with the final slalom on that weekend.
Thus there is a 9-day period of lots of white water paddling. They are superimposing the youth festivities onto an existing schedule but will be separating the events so the cadets and juniors will have a prime time on the water.
A few more details:
The week before the Gull Fest on the 4th and 5th will be a week's training at Minden. This is not an official part of the JOs, but still available. Excellent camping at Minden.
The MKC camp is 1.5 hours driving away from Minden and also has excellent camping. The 3-4 days there will have practice in slalom, freestyle, and wildwater as well as the close proximity of sections of the Ottawa River.
Ottawa City is a 1 hour drive from MKC. The freestyle there is where international freestyle events have been held.
The Sat.-Sun. July 11-12 at Ottawa will take place at the Pump House Rapids.
Following this there is a week's training camp (not part of the JOs themselves) at Valley Field near Montreal. This is an excellent slalom course with a slalom race on July 18-19 for those who wish to stay in Canada.
