US Team reports from 2009 Jr. Worlds in Moscow: Day 1 - 500m Heats

Here's more from Cheryl in Moscow - via Mac Hickox:

DAY 1 — Friday July 31 — AFTERNOON REPORT

500M HEATS

3:00 — Coach Barlow and C2 of Ben Hefner and Ian Ross arrive and immediately head ovr to Boat Control to be sure boat is still making weight – ALL IS GOOD.

3:30 — MK2 Luke Potts and Cedric Bond arrive and head to the water 15 minutes later

4:00 Coach Anderson arrives with the rest of our team – many have slept BUT all have eaten since the races this morning

NOTE: the food at our hotel has been very good, but all teams feel that the portions have been limited – the delegations appeal for extra quantities – Org Com says this will imp[rove tonight

5:00 — MK2 heads back to the water for their 500m heat

NOTE: the wind has dropped off a bit BUT remains a steady tailwind

WK2 has returned from their pre race paddle

WK4 will also go to the water for a pre race paddle – long before their scheduled 7:30 start

NOTE: most teams in the sport are dong this – a pre race paddle to check out wind, boat and to relax the nerves of all involved – this is followed by the normal on water warm up just prior to the start time.

5:30 — MC2 – 5^th of 7 in a 2:04.03 – Lane # 8 – wash from lane #7 from the Czech Republic, who finished second was a difficulty that forced major adjustments to an otherwise solid first 250m – winning time of 1:43.71 – “good performance for a young C2” both have another year in Junior – Coach form Sweden remarked that it was good to see USA competitive in the canoe events.

Both Ian and Ben were very happy with their performance and look forward to Sunday’s semi finals.

6:00 — MK2 – must finish in the top 6 or have one of the 3 fastest times outside the top 24 – first 6 in each of the 4 heats advance plus the next 3 fastest times – ready for this – their time of 1:39.214 was second fastest – 3^rd fastest was 1:39.514 and eliminated was 1:39.844. MK2 advances to the semi final

6:30 WK2 — finish 6^th with a time of 1:56.52 – this placement will advance the WK2 of Chelsea Smith and Katy Hill to the 500m semi final – the girls K2 is ranked 17^th out of 20 – are targeting the B final — sub 1:50 will be needed for the A final

MK4 heads to the water – for heat #2 and lane 9

NOTE: events are seeded based on your nation’s performance in the previous Junior World Championships

Our team of Jared McArthur / Nick Hanoian / Chris Miller and Zach Robertson finish 9^th and are eliminated – time of 1:34.062 – winning time of 1:24.413 – our MK4 is ranked 27^th of 27 – this is a very disappointing result for all involved – the 4 boys gave everything they had and just admit that the field is exceptionally fast.

NOTE: I wish to thank the crew for all of their efforts over the past 6 weeks – they gave everything they had all of the time – it was a pleasure for every coach who worked with them.

7:30 — WK4 – finishes 5^th of 6 in a time of 1:44.264 and is ranked 14^th of 19 and a solid shot of being in the B final and ranking in the top 12 in the World

It has been a very good first day – all crews have advanced to the semi finals except the MK4. A team meeting has just concluded and the four men are handling their setback as I would expect of this group. They are now in a very supportive role of their team mates who are advancing and will assist with video and stroke rate recording for the remaining races.

Mac Hickox

National Development Director

USA Canoe Kayak

Team Leader Moscow Junior World Championships Team

US Team reports from 2009 Jr. Worlds in Moscow: Day 1 - 1000m Heats

Cheryl Smith is in Moscow with the team, and she sent this report she received from Mac Hickox - Team Coach.

DAY 1 — Friday July 31 — MORNING REPORT

1000M HEATS

7:00 — Coach Barlow, Ben Hefner and I walk to the course – weather is perfect – clear blue sky – no wind

7:30 — Ben heads to the water for a warm up

8:00 — Ben back from his easy paddle / water secured from the Org Com for our team / Coach Anderson at breakfast with rest of the team

Vaija / Nelo and Plastex booths are open for service – we have picked up our MK4 that needed some small hull repairs discovered during Boat Control on Wednesday

One country is frantically going through Boat Control – unbelievable, one hour prior to the start of the regatta..

Coach Barlow and I take Ben’s boat over to Boat Control to recheck the boat weight – 16.2 kg

8:35 — Ben heads to water – each athlete must clear “Boat Debarkation” – our process has a Coach and Team Leader go through carrying the boat while the athlete carries their paddle – the ICF official checks their boat for the Boat Control sticker / athlete Body Number and Athlete Photo ID

Coach Barlow goes up the course on his bike to support Ben – athletes paddle up a warm up channel then must dock and crossover a grass median to another dock on the race course.– athletes are not allowed to paddle up the race course for their race

8:45 – Two USA Canoe Kayak ICF accredited officials — Connie Hagler and Connie Naughton go to their positions

9:00 Races begin.

9:07 – Heat #2 – Lane 9 – 1000m C1 – Ben Hefner – Result = 7^th 4:27:52 – ranked 18^th of 25 – his goal is now to qualify for the B final - top 9 to ‘A’ Final; 11 – 18 to ‘B’ Final

Poland recorded the fastest time with a 3:59 – the Polish entry won the Pre Test Regatta September, 2008.

Ben said it was cool in the start area when each country is called to the line – “Lane 9 USA” he was very proud to be part of the Junior World Championships as are all of our athletes.

Earlier in the week we took the team over to where the Org Com has all of the competing nation flags – there are 55 countries competing in this the 13^th ICF Junior World Championships – it was pointed out to our athletes that it is because of them that the US flag is on that pole – if we are not here competing, our flag is not present – then we said on a count of 3 the loudest Team USA you have ever heard – Putin could hear it in his parliament office in downtown Moscow..

10:15 — WK4 heads back to the hotel, a short 15 minute walk up the side of the course, after a light am paddle, as there is no 1000m for women, they will compete this afternoon in the 500m heats.

MK2 returns from their pre race paddle while the WK2 warms up and stretches with bands.

11:00 — MK2 heads to the water while WK2 continue their pre race routine

MK2 — finishes 4th 3:26.70 and advances to the semi final — ranked 13^th of 33. Luke and Cedric both felt they need to back of a little in the first 500 to be able to attack more in the final 500m

11:30 — WK2 finishes 5^th 4:02.25 and advances to the semi final — ranked 19^th of 25. Katy and Chelsea also felt that they have to back off a little in the first 500m in order to attack the final 500m

11:50 — MK4 heads to the water – 2 of the athletes are asked to remove wrist watches – these are not prohibited by the rules – the Chief Official indicated this at the Team Leaders meeting the day before – another example of an official being too officious – it was refreshing to hear the Chief Official say that we must educate the Juniors versus punish them through disqualification.

MK4 – finishes their race and feel that was the best they have felt – finishing 8^th in a time of 3:14.90 — ranked 27thof 28 – they are eliminated – their time in a strong tailwind today has not improved since Lake Placid.

Mac Hickox
National Development Director
USA Canoe Kayak

Atlanta-bound team safely home

Hi!

The French airport was very entertaining for our group. Some of the more energetic boys and girls found that with no one in the airport, it was fun to play escalator games and run with the carts to burn up that excess energy from our bus ride. Some of the kids were still pretty tired, so Holly, Blake and Heather decided to take a nap. Marcy had a great idea to enclose an area with the carts and bags and we patiently waited for the airport to "wake up" so we could begin our journey to our next destinations.

Once we were able to get in to our gates at the airport in France, the Atlanta-bound group found our flight to Amsterdam was delayed. It was not the news homesick people wanted to hear, but, the pilot must have seen the desperation in our eyes. He gets many kudos from our group for making a 1 1/2 hour plane ride into a 45 minute plane ride. We landed in Amsterdam ON schedule, but the four of us (Sheaffer, Blake, Anna and myself) literally had to jog to make our connecting flight which was to leave in about 35-40 minutes and was located totally across the airport (from gate 1 to 47). All of those monastery runs must have paid off, because we made it without any problems. Our flight back was uneventful. The fun part was when Blake had taken a nap and Sheaffer tried to convince him that while he slept the plane had problems and was on its way back to Amsterdam. Blake ended up not totally buying it, and we landed with our nine hour flight feeling more like fifteen hours. The fun wasn't over, because once we slid quickly through customs and were retrieving our luggage, mine wasn't there. It took quite a while to get through the line to take care of all of the paperwork, but many thanks goes to Sheaffer for staying with me (thanks to Anna and Blake who also had to endure the long wait) and making sure all of the paperwork was done properly and with the correct numbers so my bags could be found. We finally went through security for the final time and were able to get on the shuttle and out to our loved ones who were patiently waiting for our return. On a happy note, my luggage was found and returned safe and intact. Thank you KLM for finding it!!

Susan Shilling