The Junior Worlds part II

Scott Shipley, 2002 - The Savage Worlds was a difficult race for the Europeans. It was held only a few hours from the U.S.’s major training in Washington D.C. but a long plane ride from any of their home courses. To make things more difficult there was a very limited supply of water for practice time on the course. There were only three time slots a day to be divided up amongst all the competitors leaving many desperate for every bit of water time available. The course was packed with athletes, which made training difficult at the best of times. In spite of the crowds I remember being stunned to see Britain's Richard Fox charge through the pack with little or no resistance. The crowds of paddlers seemed to part like the Red Sea in order to allow the champion through.

My experience was just the opposite. I was used to the sparsely populated rivers of the Northwest. I would politely allow this paddler or that to go ahead as I tried to train among the masses. Everyone ran me over, I managed one or two runs a workout and once was run over by a Czech C-2 team while walking up the trail! I mentioned my frustrations to a fellow teammate who was also racing in her first international race. I remember clearly her response; “Well, remember you’re here for the same reason I am. To have fun and get some experience. Don’t lose track of that.” I almost fell of my chair listening to her! I wasn’t here for experience; I was here to win this race. After two days of being pushed around I vowed to play hardball. I became a heat-seeking missile. I cut off any and everyone and would charge after those who did the same to me. Every run became one big team run in combination with whoever happened to be in my way. I let nothing and nobody stop my workouts.

I had learned my lesson well and brought those experiences to the Junior Worlds. I had concluded that there were too many extras that go along with these big races and most of them were just a big hasle for those who were there to win. I avoided parades, team dinners and team meetings. I used only the coaching staff that proved most helpful and avoided those who seemed to be wasting my time. I trained here as I had trained in my final few workouts at the Pre-Worlds, by charging though an overcrowded field of competitors with a take-no-prisoners attitude. An attitude that shocked these juniors the way it had shocked me one month beforehand. In short, I turned my back on many of the surrounding this event and raced my own race instead.

In many ways this race was very intimidating. For the first time in my life I was up large pack of people that were the same I was. We were assigned "training slots" by country and given specific times in which we were allowed to train at the race site itself. I would spend hours with my teammates every day watching the other countries training. I was in awe of all the talented kids from across Europe. True to form the Slovenians fielded three strong boats once again, as did almost every other European country. I counted three strong Brits, three strong Germans, three strong French and many others. There were more than a hundred kayaks in the Men's class alone!

My biggest concern while traveling over to Europe had been the course itself. I knew my strengths and weaknesses and hoped that this course would play into them. If the race was set on difficult whitewater, much like the rivers I was used to training on, I reasoned I would be in good shape, if it were set on an easier rapid I felt I would most likely fall victim to the Europeans, who I felt had better gate skills. I remember driving up to the course and being so disappointed at what I saw. The river was virtually a creek with what seemed like very easy whitewater.

What I couldn't see from my vantage point was that this indeed was big water. I was looking down on a steep, tight creek with rocks and vicious holes. This was intimidating whitewater. On our first run through I was flipped end for end and two of my teammates swam. I was ecstatic! This was exactly the sort of water l'd been hoping for and the course turned out to be a real advantage for me. On the whole the water was fast, pushy, and intimidating.

The race was seeded by dividing the results into thirds-if your boat finished in the first third at the previous Worlds then they would start in the first third at these championships. The country order was decided by draw. This left our entire team, all three boats, in the worst third of the race! I finished my first run more than an hour and a half before the entire field was posted. I was young then and felt like I should be put at the end of the pack with the better boats but in the end I think the seed worked to our advantage. I led that first run by a full fourteen seconds! This was a huge lead. Since we had started so early nobody had bothered to watch my teammates and I do our runs. We weren't on anyone’s video or anyone's splits yet I was able to watch virtually every one of my top competitors do their runs.

My second run was within a couple seconds of my first but the Europeans had begun to catch up. The ninety minutes between the finish of my second run and the finish of the race seemed like an eternity. My teammate Brad Nelson had finished his second run in second place although his position proved much more precarious and he started to drop as the as the results from the top boats came in. In the end I had my title and Brad finished in sixth place. Both of us had made vast improvements on our country's previous best of thirty-sixth place at these championships. For the first time America was making waves in the men’s kayak class.

Coming of Age Part I...