2015 ICF World Championships Slalom
 
1
2
3
K1M
CZ J. PRSKAVEC
PL M. POLACZYK
US M. SMOLEN
K1W
CZ K. KUDEJOVA
DE R. FUNK
DE M. PFEIFER
C1M
GB D. FLORENCE
SI B. SAVSEK
GB R. WESTLEY
C1W
AU J. FOX
CZ K. HOSKOVA
ES N. VILARRUBLA
C2
DE ANTON/BENZIEN
FR PICCO/BISO
FR KLAUSS/PECHE

Canoe Slalom

The Ultimate Run - 25 years on

In August 1989 Colin Thompson writing in Canoe Slalom Magazine described “a masterly performance by Richard Fox and a perfect run by Jon Lugbill – the undisputed champions of the World.”

jon lugbill davey hearn richard fox canoe kayak slalom world champion 1989 savage river usa america sportscene

Jon Lugbill at the 1989 Savage World Championships Canoe Slalom (Photos courtesy of Tony Tickle)

John Gregory | @gregiej | Sportscene - In the same edition, Alan Edge reported; “In C1 Jon Lugbill of the USA won in a time that gave him 8th place in MK1 – a stupendous performance that may never be beaten”. [For the historians, actually Davey Hearn would have placed 6th in the 1985 Augsburg Worlds and Estanguet and Martikán would have placed 2nd & 3rd respectively in the Athens Olympics!]

How exciting is it then to return to the USA for the 2014 World’s an incredible 25 years later? First, we asked Jon, Davey Hearn and their coach the legendary Bill Endicott their recollections of those foggy mornings on the Savage in ’89, watched by 15,000 excited spectators. Jon said; “I knew when I finished that run that it was special.  I had pushed physically all the way through the run and had nailed many of the hard moves.  It was extremely gratifying to have performed so well at a World Championships.  Looking back, one of the things that allowed me to perform right up to my ability was my extreme confidence on the Savage River.  My paddling style matched the Savage perfectly and the course that was set accentuated my power and whitewater skills.  The home crowd was very supportive and it all resulted in my 2nd run being something I will always cherish.”

jon lugbill davey hearn richard fox canoe kayak slalom world champion 1989 savage river usa america sportscene I asked Davey his expectations on the Savage as Jon started his 2nd run; “I looked in the cabinet where I keep all my daily training logs from 26 years of competition, zeroed in on the late 80s, and saw the spine of one notebook that read Bethesda Racers Rule The World, which was a motivating statement from a local newspaper headlines after the 1989 Savage Worlds. The log entry for June 24th 1989 fills in the details:  1st run (1:20 pm) was very tense, good warm-up, Went out fast. Problems at 3-4, slow around 6, 9-10-11 good. Lost time into 13 + 15 (hit rock), and low at 24. Otherwise solid, 224+0. Jon 212+0.  I knew I was vulnerable, set out to psyche up to improve, and I knew I could.  2nd run (4 pm) was a more solid fast run, had smaller problems at 10-11, 15 again.  The rest was real solid, I was happy with my run. 2nd again, that's five now, but it's a record too, just like Jon! What a day! The most pressure I have ever felt at a race, the crowd was roaring all the way down. So I had 217.01 clear on my 2nd run and Jon had 205.04. I always liked to focus on my own racing, doing my best, and so I had expectations that I could do that; do my best to challenge Jon's score.  He was just better that day.  We trained together all the time and we both knew either of us could prevail on a given day.”

Bill Endicott is another legend within canoe slalom. He coached both Jon and Davey having himself first competed at the Merano Worlds back in 1971. He went on to write the iconic and much sought after texts; To Win the Worlds & The Utimate Run. Endicott wrote; “It’s hard to believe 25 years has passed since the Savage Worlds!  It seems like just yesterday that Boo Hayman (now Turner) was putting together the bid, Lugbill was lobbying for it to be accepted and Lugbill succeeded in putting a helmet on Maryland Governor William Donald Schaefer’s head during a TV interview in order to get him to back the Worlds with publicity, money and sponsors (all of which Schaefer did).“

It was Lugbill’s 5th World title battling again with Davey Hearn in something reminiscent of Martikán – Estanguet 20 years later. Team USA took four individual medals in the 4 classes with gold & silver in C1M together with silver and bronze in K1W.

Endicott commented on the Lugbill-Hearn rivalry; “Actually, it didn’t surprise me because I was very used to Lugbill-Hearn competitions producing ultimate runs, both in practice and in races.  But that doesn’t mean that I didn’t value it very highly; quite the opposite.  As a competitor, I’d come from a time when the U.S. was an also-ran in our sport, so to then be around when we were winning was a thrill.  And to be doing it in the first U.S. Worlds was absolute bliss.”

jon lugbill davey hearn richard fox canoe kayak slalom world champion 1989 savage river usa america sportscene He continued; “But for me, there was something deeper.  For me personally, the Lugbill-Hearn rivalry was simply the pinnacle of an extraordinary string of athletes we had in those days – the World Champion Garvis brothers and Haller brothers in C2, and Cathy Hearn in K1W, the World Cup Champions, Dana Chladek in K1W and Lecky Haller and Jamie McEwan in C2, and the K1s, Rich Weiss and Eric Jackson, to mention just a few.”

Endicott reminisces; “Lugbill’s 1989 run at the Savage was a way of capturing all that for me.  And it’s incredible for me to think that if Jon Lugbill hadn’t existed, David Hearn could have been World Champion 7 times; he was also phenomenal. How often does a coach get to work with talent like that? Not a day goes by, not even when I was working in the White House that I don’t think about those times, at least for a few seconds.”

Jon & Davey battled for World titles from 1979-1989, during which time they were 1-2 in every Worlds. “We even swept the medals for the USA in 1979 Jonquiere and 1987 in Bourg, with Bob Robison taking the bronze in '79 and Bruce Lessels taking bronze in '87”; Hearn said. “Jon and I had a cooperatively competitive relationship wherein we, along with others in our training group, would openly compare our training performances, on short and long courses, day in and day out, and that facilitated strong improvement that could not have happened if we had been more protective of our techniques or feared elements of our success being stolen by each other.  We each learned from each other, and adopted strengths from each other over the years.”

Referring back again to Canoe Slalom Magazine, Richard Fox took his 4th K1M World title with 198.61 seconds. Edge wrote “To underline how convincing this was – he even tried to encourage the rest by hitting gate 1, and still managed to win by 4 seconds [with a 5 second penalty]. France’s Myriam Jerusalmi won the first of her World championship titles in LK1 [K1W]”. Interestingly, in the same piece Alan also cited 19-year old Gareth Marriott as a serious Olympic medal contender! In C2, West Germany’s Hemmer & Loose took gold.

jon lugbill davey hearn richard fox canoe kayak slalom world champion 1989 savage river usa america sportscene

For all results click here.

jon lugbill davey hearn richard fox canoe kayak slalom world champion 1989 savage river usa america sportscene I asked Bill if it was true that Jon Lugbill had given him one of his gold medals from the Savage. He responded; “It’s true and this is the first time I’ve commented on it publicly.  After the 1992 Olympics he came to my house and said something like “I’ve been trying to think of something to give you for all you’ve done for me and here it is.” After the shock, I started crying, because, to me, that medal was the “crown jewels” of whitewater canoeing, the first time anyone had won 5 times in individual competition.  Even now as I’m looking at it while writing this, the tears still well up.” He added; “It represented for me how far we’d come as a nation in this sport, how extraordinary the times had been, how extraordinary Jon Lugbill was.  How lucky I’d been to be around for it all.” “I can’t accept this,” I said. “I want you to have it,” Lugbill replied. So, I put it on my mantel piece and didn’t touch it for years.  It just didn’t seem right that human hands other than Lugbill’s should grace it.”

It was interesting to hear Jon’s reaction to the modern day interest in his Ultimate Run; “It is a little surreal to watch my race on YouTube, because of course in 1989 we didn’t even have the internet. I’m a little shocked how that run has become a bit of a social media hit.  You know it is hard not to get nostalgic about all of the people that helped me to get where I did in the sport.  People like Bill Endicott, Gordon Bare, Jamie McEwan, Bob Robison, Davey Hearn, Kent Ford and my brother Ron were all instrumental in my development as a paddler along with hundreds of others that were there helping me and the sport grow and evolve.“

Fast forward to September 2014 in Deep Creek and a racer named Fox is again a medal contender. Jessica Fox will arrive as reigning C1W champion and Olympic silver medalist in K1W. To cement her rise in our minds she recently took both the K1W and C1W title in April’s Penrith U23 Worlds. Another rising star from these Penrith Junior & U23 Worlds was America’s Michal Smolen, who became K1M U23 World Champion.

I have my own connection with these Worlds; while sadly I was not there I sneaked into Tony Tickle’s Savage World’s photography presentation at The Royal Hotel in Llangollen that October. I was also fortunate to then commentate on Davey Hearn’s gold medal winning run at the ’95 Nottingham Worlds ahead of a 17-year old youngster Michal Martikán taking bronze! [Jon Lugbill finished 10th]

jon lugbill davey hearn richard fox canoe kayak slalom world champion 1989 savage river usa america sportscene

You can find out more information about the Deep Creek Worlds through their useful website at www.deepcreek2014.com. Sportscene will be there at the prestigious Deep Creek venue on September 17-21 to report on this exciting World’s 25 years after Lugbill and Fox demonstrated their utter mastery on the Savage River in 1989. Jon, Davey and Bill will be there too on the riverbank watching the new generation.

For the 1989 Savage Worlds results go to www.sportscene.tv/whitewater/canoe-slalom/result-archive/1989-savage-river-usa

All photographs courtesy of Tony Tickle. Thanks Tony.