Disappointment on the Ottawa
The Reno-Tahoe Blog will occasionally feature entries from athletes sponsored by Reno-Tahoe, America’s Adventure Place. Jay Kincaid, professional kayaker, has been paddling over half of his lifetime, and is back to blog about his life as a professional kayaker living in Reno, NV. As 2003 Freestyle Kayaking World Champion, 2001 U.S. National Champion and three-time U.S. Point Series Champion, Jay is the most proud of the many first descents he’s done on rivers and waterfalls in his native Oregon and in California.
Well the first World Cup event on the Ottawa is finally over. The river dropped down to a perfect flow and we couldn’t have asked for a better wave.
I trained my butt off everyday since the U.S Team Trials and was very confident and happy about the way that I was paddling, as well as feeling a bit burnt out and ready for a change of scenery. I kind of had some mixed emotions as I don’t like to train at the same feature for such a long period of time, but had to because the U.S. Team Trials and World Cup where back to back.
I didn’t paddle very well the first day for the prelims but was still able to make the cut to finals. Sunday morning, finals morning, I actually went out to the wave by myself and paddled for almost two hours, which is normally not something that I do before competing. I came up with a a whole new plan for my ride and was hitting it more often then not in practice.
So, finals stated and I was again competing. My first ride started off well, but I flushed for the first time all morning on my left Air Screw. My second ride started off really well. I stuck a perfect entry Helix, was getting huge air on all of my moves, and then landed weird on my left edge and carved off the wave with 15 seconds left. My last 15 seconds was reserved for my left Air Screw and my right Pan Am.
I missed the cut to the top 5 by 10 points, which is half of the score of an Air Screw. In the end I ended up 9th which was very disappointing. I trained very hard for that event and finishing 9th place is very hard for me to swallow. Like usual after a disappointing lose I have physically felt ill all day long. Not fun but something that has happened to me a few time before.
Now it is all about the comeback for me. With two events left I really need to finish well to make up for the slip up yesterday. I took today off resting and hanging out with Lisa and her Mom in Gananoque, which is only about 45 minutes from the 2nd event site in Watertown.
So, starting tomorrow it is back to training.
