NZ Extreme Kayak Racers win World Champs

Race Day 1 - Footage: Olaf Obsommer, Gauthier Grollemund, David Arnaud
Editing: David Arnaud




-Honza Lasco on the Extreme Race Day 1 - Photo Arnd Schaeftlein

After 26hrs stranded in Milano Linate airport I had a break through and next minute I had a friend of a friend yelling out from his car getting my attention, quickly loaded the car and before I knew it I was on the motor way heading for Ivrea! Kees Van Kuipers was on his was and running a bit late so was on time to call in and save me from my spell in the airport! Within a few hours we were up in the hills but unfortuantly just missed the down river extreme race but good news was already out with Bliss-Sticks, Honza Lasco in 1st and Mike Dawson in a close second!

-The View from my tent the morning after 26hrs in the airport! Happy to be here! - Photo Josh Neilson

That night I got to catch up with the crew and hear horror stories from the race that day! The course is steep and technical and over the day there was broken ankles, ribs and other various injuries from running the Gnar at speed!

-Sam Sutton rolling off the start ramp - Photo Arnd Schaeftlein

Early the next morning was the Teams race! This was the first part of the overall World Championship title! Team Switzerland was missing a paddler due to the day before's incidents so i paddled for them which was an experience running the whole race blind without ever seeing the river before! I got in behind and kept close and rolled off every drop in the same place as who ever was in front in hope they stuck their line so i would too! At the bottom I was stoked to be down, uninjured and back on the river!

- Brad Lauder flying off the upper drops at full speed! -Photo Arnd Schaeftlein


- The Upper Gorge - Photo Arnd Schaeftlein

- Over all 2nd Mike Dawson navigating the upper race course - Photo Arnd Schaeftlein

Team kiwi (Mike Dawson, Jared Mehan and Sam Sutton) took the days top time taking them into the second round 15seconds up on the France!
The races now moved into town down the hill to a beafy slalom course where the boatercross, downriver sprint and the second round of World Champs for teams would be held!
I got a 7th place in the down river which was cool and only 2.6 second behind Italian Filippo Brunetti!

-Mike leading the pack in the boatercross - Photo Josh Neilson

-Louise Jull Coming from the back of the pack to win the Womens Boatercross - Photo Josh Neilson

-Louise Jull keeping focused and winning the womens extreme slalom - Photo Josh Neilson

To split up her slalom tour in Europe, Louise Jull who is traveling round in a truck with Mike Dawson, came to the race and dominated. Unfortunalty she didnt have a kayak to race in for the Val Chiusella race which means she couldnt be eligable for overall winner but she did cleanly win the slalom and Boatercross which was awesome to see!
Next up was the Teams Slalom which I moved down the pack to 27the out of 46 as this is definalty not my specialty but it was a fun race.
The next big event was the teams slalom. This was the second part of the World Champs for teams racing. With some very strict rules of missing a gate a 50sec penalty and also a touch of a gate 50 sec penalty it meant that if any team had even a touch they would be out for sure!

-A touch of NZ in Italy, this flag flew for the kiwi mens world champion team! -Photo Josh Neilson

Team NZ was last to run and with the French having clean and fast lines through the course! This meant that if NZ touched a gate they would loose the title right there! Mike came through the course clean followed by Jared..... Sam was the last to come into the last gate and also hit it clean! NZ took the title for World Champions for teams racing which is awesome!

- Team NZ (Jared Mehan, Sam Sutton, Mike Dawson) World Champion team racers - Photo Josh Neilson

The overall times for every race were added up to find the title for the Teva Cup and Mike Dawson took 2nd place which was another great result for NZ's Extreme racing crew!

Teva Cup Overall 2nd Place Mike Dawson - Photo Josh Neilson

Right after the event I loaded up a car with Valarie Bertrand from Norway and headed on a bit of a mission over night to Germany where she picked up some new kayaks then straight back to Italy to pcik up our kayaks we had left with Filippo.

-On our way to Germany we camped by the river to find this sign early the next morning! -Photo Josh Neilson

We went out for pizza itallian style and then a tour around Verona, Italy! A town we easily passed by on the way but stoked we got to check out! We walked around the city til 3am looking at castles, statues, arena from the Roman time and even checked out the place where Juliet lived and saw the balcony where Romeo stood below! An amazign town rich in history and very beautiful!

-One of many Castles along the way - Photo Josh Neilson


-Following Team Italy home from the race in Ivrea - Photo Josh Neilson

Straight from there we drove 1.5 hrs and caught a plane Olso Norway and then a 4hr drive to where i sit right now! Back in Norway and looking forward to the next chapter in the 09 mission! Tomorrow we will be back on the river here in Norway and getting ready for Voss Extreme Sports Veko next week! Lets go!

- Hanging with team Italy pre party on saturday! -Photo Josh Neilson

Teva Mountain Games 2009

From Louise Urwin

The Games finished on Sunday... today is thursday and I'm finally starting to feel like I've recovered.
Reflecting on a fantastic week, it's almost like a blur.

The Streets of Vail from hotel balcony

HOMESTAKE STEEP CREEK RACE

Mike takes the Podium - Steep Creek Champ

The week began with the Homestake Creek extreme race. The water was a little low but rumour had it that we would get more water on race day. However, the level stayed the same and so there were a few more rocks to avoid than previous years. There were 46 male competitors and 6 women. The race begins with a ramp into the river and you're off for 2 mins of intense paddling before you hit the finish line. The times were so tight that to get through to the next round, you needed smooth, fast lines, no room for error. Even if you weren't fast, there was no room for error because if you flipped, chances were you would lose teeth (as Kelsey found out last year).

LU Homestake Racing

The day kicked off with the womens heats and we were all a bit bummed at the bottom as we had all made mistakes shaving precious time off our runs. Lucky for us, we all got to go through for the next run and our combined times would determine our overall placings.

LU Sprinting down Homestake

The mens runs were tight as a camels arse in a sandstorm... 10 seconds separated 1st & 23rd place who were to continue to the next round....Our very own Mike Dawson took the fastest time heading into the next round but closely followed by Pat Keller & Tao Berman.
Sam also went through to the next round in 14th place, Tyler in 19th and Josh missed out by .04 of a second, which is probably less than a paddle stroke and so ended up 24th overall. Unfortunately Brad spun out half way down the course which cost him the cut too.

Tyler dropping in on Homestake...

Sam tearing through his race run - pic by Anna Bruno

Josh cleaning "Best boof in the world" - pic by Anna Bruno

The womens second run was pretty intense, the times were less than a second apart for the top spots. I was having the best run I'd had but unfortunately near the end of the run, came off a drop with pace directly at a rock and split my boat open which put me out. The fight for top three was fierce between Nikki Kelly, Tanya Faux & Aidrienne Levkneckt. In the end Nicky took it for another year pocketing US$2k, followed closely by T Faux and Adrienne came in third.

Nikki Kelly, Womens X-race winner - pic by Anna Bruno

The pressure was on for the mens final, also with US$2k at stake. It was hard enough to be consistent let alone step it up. Sam improved hugely on his first run, making up a huge 7 secs but it wasn't enough. Pat Keller kept his third place after his run and it then came down to the last two competitors Tao & Mike for the top spot. Tao had a good run, slightly slower than his first run but enough to hold second place. It all came down to Mike to top Tao... He had a few seconds on Tao but he needed to go fast without any errors, one mistake could cost him a placing. Mike finished his run and looked good, the suspense in the crowd was huge as we waited to see whether the underdog Kiwi's time beat out the previous champ. Mike beat Tao by a second overall and we didn't see much of him for the next day as the paparazzi took over...Congrats Mike!! Way to represent!!

Mike, on his way to Victory - pic by Anna Bruno

Mike & Nikki - pretty much Rockstars!

FINAL RESULTS - HOMESTAKE STEEP CREEK:

MEN:

1.Mike Dawson
2.Tao Berman
3.Pat Keller

WOMEN:

1.Nikki Kelly
2.Tanya Faux
3.Aidrienne Levkneckt



PRO-FREESTYLE


The next two days were Freestyle time for the Kayakers, none of our crew had playboats so we took to the sidelines to enjoy the show. The first day were qualifiers and although the hole/wave wasn't big, Nth Americas best with some Euro, NZ & OZ ringers were pulling off big scoring rides. We saw some of the biggest loops ever, thrown in with Space Godzillas, McNasty's, Phoenix Monkeys, Cartwheels and even the occasional blunt.

Mike pulling some Freetstyle out of the bag - finished 19th!

Rush showing he can rip it just as hard the day after as the night before

Casper stepped up the pace, like a man possessed.


Anna Bruno hucking her hide.

The top 10 girls and 15 guys made it through to the next round with Emily Jackson & Dustin Urban topping the heats.
The second day of competition was huge, as the cut was made to top 5, there was no way of telling who would take the mens with Dustin, Andrew Holcolme, Stephen Wright, Casper, & Nick Troutman, all killing it. Emily Jackson was clearly dominating the women with consistently high scoring rides....although Tanya & Ruth looked to come close, Emily took it easily in the end. Stephen pulled out a huge ride in the mens with biggest loop & Space God I've ever seen, Nick & Dustin both came back with high scoring rides but couldn't quite top Stephen who took the home the big money in the end.

Stephen Wright on one of his Hugemongous loops

Emily knows exactly what to throw to win every time.

FINAL RESULTS - VAIL FREESTYLE

MEN:
1.Stephen Wright
2.Nik Troutman
3.Dustin Urban

WOMEN:
1.Emily Jackson
2.Tanya Faux
3.Ruth Gordon



KAYAK 8-BALL


The final Kayak event of the competition was the 8-Ball. Basically you line up with 4 other boaters and race down a 200m stretch of class 2 water, easy right... Now you add 3 topo-duo's and half a dozen other "8-Ball" paddlers hiding downstream waiting to take you out. No amount of speed, Skill or strategy can really help you win this race. You're gonna get hit no matter what position you're in, the further in front you are, the more you're gonna get hit. What you do need for this race is elbow pads and preferably a full-face helmet...it's a riot. Personally, I got railed into the trees on the shore by EJ & Dane in a duo and that was game over for me.
Both Tyler & Sam made it to the mens final and this had to be the spectator event of the whole games, 8 of them went at once, and since it's the final, the 8-Ballers just keep paddling downstream, trying to take out the competitors all the way to the finish line. I was one of the line judges and it's tough figuring out who came where since pretty much all competitors & 8-Ballers cross the finish line in one big tangled bunch.
In the end though, NZ did it again with Sam charging through first!! yeah boy!

FINAL RESULTS - 8 BALL

MEN:
1.Sam Sutton
2.Geoff Calhoun
3.Nick Troutman

WOMEN:
1.Ruth Gordon
2.Nikki Kelly
3.Emily Jackson

The Teva Mountain Games was a wicked week of competing, Reuniting with paddling buddies from all over, partying and checking out all the events. They also had on the World Bouldering Champs, Various types of Biking, Running, Dog Events, bands & DJ's, heaps of gear/vendor tents all in a beautiful town surrounded by snow capped mountains. There was plenty to do and I would reccommend anyone to check it out, be one of the 20,000 people to flock to the city even if it's just to chill and soak up the atmosphere....Roll on next year....

Big thanks to Ron Fischer for letting us occupy his hotel room & Anna Bruno for the x-race pics :)

2009 World Bouldering World Cup @ Teva Mountain Games

Freeride Racing @ Teva Mountain Games

Bruno showing us how big the Trucks are in the States...