Heating UP!By Ken Whiting and Kevin Varette June 23, 2001 The site is beginning to take its form now, with large bleachers and viewing decks on both sides of the river, the judges' stand, Coca Cola tents, the Young Pirates party-mobile, a sound system with huge speakers that pump out Euro-house 20 hours per day, vendors and growing crowds coming to check out the commotion. Not only are athletes training to put their rides together, but they're now getting practice in front of a lively audience too - especially at night! The weather has continued to heat up here, with the mercury hitting 36°C (102°F) plus the scorching-sun factor for the hottest day yet. An old Spanish man in the street told me that in two days there would be a big thunderstorm - I told him that I hoped he was right! What a cool way that would be to kick things off on Monday!  The US team had its second and final training session along with the small South African squad
for two hours today, with both teams putting on an amazing show. Steve Fisher's HUGE air loop
was definitely the hottest move of the day (see photos to the right!), but EJ was right there with consistent loops, air
loops, air wheels, back stabs, super cleans and a big cheesy grin that is going to be hard for
anyone to beat! The US juniors are going to be a huge challenge for any other country too,
largely thanks to the Adventure Quest program and coach Shane Beneditct. Over half of the US
juniors are Adventure Quest students who travel year-round to paddle and do their schooling in
some of the best destinations on the globe. Sean Brabent, Weasle, Dustin Urban, Marlo, Andre
Spino-Smith, and Kalif Latorney are the US juniors and most of the K-1 men here are glad they
don't have to compete against them! Canada, New Zealand and England will be the teams giving
these guys the best run for their money.
 The water level was actually consistent today, staying up throughout the day and evening to provide lots of bonus training time. Since it was decided at the meeting on Friday night that entry moves would be scored for their technical value before the clock starts (as a bonus and incentive to get athletes to try entry moves…), there have been some exciting attempts at wowing the crowd. The most common are air wheels into the hole, but some are starting a flurry of ends before dropping into the Pit or paddling hard at the hole and bouncing their hull off the foam pile for a big aerial cut-back. Ken Whiting's kick-flip entry was probably the biggest crowd pleaser though! It will be interesting to see who is brave enough to bring these to the competition this week!
Notes of Interest….
Day 5 Videos 2 versions available: Cable or High Speed (better quality, slower upload and larger) Modem (smaller, lower quality, faster upload) Some of the practice action today: Luke Hopkins (Modem AVI 1.1 MB) Mattiu (German Team)(Modem AVI 496 kb) Andre Spino-Smith (Modem AVI 531 kb) |
Steve Fisher...
move of the day!       |