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2012 Olympic Hopes Regatta, Szeged, Hungary

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Today we had a wide variety of results and 2 break throughs into the finals.  We had a couple boats out in the heats and a couple in the semis.  In K-1 Women 200 16 years, Alyson Morse went through the semi-final to reach the final and 5^th place.    In C-1 Men 200 15 years, Matthew Lam placed 2^nd in the heat, and went directly to the final where he also placed 5^th.  The C-4 men 200 15 – 17 years of Matthew Lam, Gavin Ross, Caleb Chuck and Zach Guay had a direct final and placed 6^th.  These were all really good showings.

Congratulations to the entire team for a tremendous effort turned in by all the team members – Natalie Griffin, Alyson Morse, Isti Urban, Garen Doyle, Michael Weyna, Dylan Puckett, Gavin Ross, Caleb Chuck, Matt Lam and Zach Guay.  Where we did not make finals we did get some PRs.  Thanks also to the staff of Alison Derrick, Kristi Guay and Joel Guay for their wonderful commitment to the kids and their racing efforts.  Thank you very much to the parents for your caring support and financial commitment to your kids and their canoe/kayak endeavors.  To all the club coaches who helped with the training and preparation of your athletes, your time and efforts are greatly appreciated.  Thanks to USACK Selection Committee and especially Mac Hickox for the opportunity to lead and coach this team.  It was great to work with all these fine young people and staff.

Tomorrow we get a very early start and drive to Budapest, then fly to Frankfurt and Dulles together.  Then we part company and head to our individual homes.  I hope we have the opportunity to pursue athletic greatness in canoe/kayak together  in the future.

To wrap up I’d like to describe our final team meeting at the race course.  We talked about how when we arrived we were intimidated by the huge Hungarian and German Teams on each side of us, how we were scared out of our lanes during the training days before the competition – literally deer in the headlights.  And how on our last day that was transformed to a focus of qualifying for finals and reaching for the podium.  For me, the transformation was remarkable.  

We also discussed what we need to do to bridge the gap between where we are now and reaching the podium – the volume of training, developing muscle mass, and improving our speed endurance.  I believe that this group of fine young US paddlers is up to the challenge.  Let the good work that leads to the podium continue in earnest.

Saturday September 15, 2012 Update

We had a pretty good day of racing getting several athletes into the semis. A couple came close by time or place especially Alyson and Natalie, who were 4th in their respective semis. Alyson in particular was really close to 3rd place which would have put her in the final. 

The C-4 boys set up their boat for the 200 and it looks pretty good. So we hope for a great race there. 

This evening, 

Alison and I attended the Team Leader’s Banquet and enjoyed exchanging ideas with Team leaders from other countries. I enjoyed seeing some old friends and catching up.
Tomorrow we race 200s and we are all looking forward to seeing what we can do in the ultimate sprint. The team remains in good spirits and are provide a wide variety of entertainment values. This is a very good group of kids.

A special thanks today to Istvan and Judit Urban, and their friend Titu, who provided the kayaks for us. They also brought a bicycle for me yesterday so I could ride next to the course and follow along with the racers. That gives me much better insight as to where strengths and weaknesses lie. We really appreciate your kindness very much.

Here's the link to the Olympic Hopes Regatta web site.  Included is the schedule and results will be continuously updated.
Olympic Hopes Regatta 2012

Joel Guay has posted photos from the Olympic Hopes Regatta at:
Joel Guay's photos

We had a very nice lunch at the race course and then headed back to the hotel for a nap.

During the afternoon workout we continued to recover from the trip with a 4 - 6 km aerobic endurance workout on the race course.  Gavin, Matt, Zach and Caleb C-4 looks really good and it would be lots of fun to spend some time with these guys to really develop the boat.  Isti, Natalie, Alyson and Garen were all in K-1s.  They move the boats well.  Dylan and Michael continue to improve in their K-2.  Thanks to the great staff here, led by Alison, we got all the boats but the C-4 weighed.  We'll weight the C-4 and get weights into boats tomorrow.

An anaerobic workout in the morning to refresh speed, speed endurance and starts and then the afternoon off to poke around town.  Not to much as we don't want to burn through legs, but enough to get a feel for the wonderful place and culture of Hungary.

Thanks again to all the parents who are able to support their kids and funded this trip.  Thanks also to the club coaches who spend day in and day out helping their athletes develop.  And to the Sprint Selection Committee, and especially Mac Hickox, for the opportunity they have given me.

K-1 Natalie Griffith and Coach Alison Derrick

K-1 Natalie Griffith

K-1 Isti Urban

K-1 Garen Doyle

K-2 Dylan Pucket & Michael Weyna

C-4 from the front Gavin Ross, Matt Lam, Zach Guay, Caleb Chuck

C-4 taking FOREVER to set up their platform.  Yes Matt, the knee block goes on the top side of the platform!

USA Canoe/Kayak 2012 Olympic Hopes Team at the entrance to the Szeged International Regatta Course

Dinner at the outdoor garden resturaunt - Garen Doyle, Michael Weyna, Isti Urban, Dylan Pucket

And at table 2 we have Zach Guay, Matt Lam, Caleb Chuck, Alyson Morse, and Gavin Ross

Alysin is in the hood!

Wrapping up at table 3 is Cori Guay, Natalie Griffin, Alison Derrick, Kristi Guay and Joel Guay.  Thanks for a great trip so far!

Up at 6:00 and breakfast at 7:00.  The folks we are staying with are really nice and very accommodating – big change from Soviet Empire era.   A wonderful breakfast and incredible homemade peach preserves.

We had a really good workout this morning, getting boats set up primarily for the 1000.  K-1s, C-1s, K-2s and C-2s z are ready.  We’ll get our C-4 this afternoon.  The team paddled about 6km mostly aerobic just to work out the kinks and get comfortable with their team boat partners.  We’ll continue that this afternoon and then get some speed work in tomorrow in preparation for the regatta.

Team at Dulles

Joel is taking lots of photos and I’m taking a few as I am able.

At Dulles they changed planes to a version of the 777 that had fewer seats than the original.  So there was some seat shuffling to fit everyone in.

We all arrived in Budapest well, but tired.  The skies were clear and it was a warm sunny day.  We did have one bag that didn't make the plane in Frankfurt for Michael.  It is supposed to be delivered to our hotel on Wednesday.  Kristi, Joel, and Cori were waiting for us.  They had rented 2 vans and were going to follow us to Szeged in the bus provided by the organizing committee.  Well, no bus.  So we piled into the 2 vans and off we went, following a map Kristi have bought and my memory of about 25 years ago – and we got to our motel in pretty good time with only a couple small wrong turns.  

Isty and his parents met us at the motel; his parents wished us their best and then headed home to Budapest.   We used kayaks from their Honved Club and they anda friend had delivered them to the race course earlier in the day.  We'll get our canoes from the race organizers tomorrow.  Then we had a nice dinner at a restaurant close by.

Everyone’s tired and crashed now, and in good spirits.  Tomorrow is boat set up day and working to get some fundamental technique points working together in team boats.  We’re glad to be here in Hungary and look forward to great races later in the week.

We’re all checked in, at the gate at Dulles and waiting to board our flight to Frankfurt.  This will be the last blog from the US until we return.  Thanks to all who helped us on our way - Sprint Selection Committee, USACK Staff and especially Mac Hickox, and most of all the great parents, coaches and club supporters who trained these fine young women and men to get them to this level. 

at Dulles waiting for team!

Packed and ready to go to Szeged.  Leave tonight at 10:00.  Into Dulles in the morning and meet team members as they arrive.  On to Szeged tomorrow.

Spent the last couple of days trying to get ahead a bit at work, communicating with parents of team members and staff, checking final travel plans, adjusting entries, finishing packing lists and looking at the race schedule.  Here's the link to the preliminary Olympic Hopes Regatta schedule:

Olympic Hopes Regatta Preliminary Schedule

Our training has gone pretty well, but the weather has been magnificent, which has brought out a lot of motorboat traffic, so the lake has been lumpy.

Had a nice chat with Mac and we discussed possible changes to the kayak men entries.  We reviewed some logistics and transportation ideas.  I also sent out a packing list for team members.  Great support from Manager Kristi Guay and Assistant Coach Alison Derrick.

Yesterday we sent out the hotel information so the team could have a look at where we’re staying.  Had a chat with Mac last night to help clear up some questions.  Today we finished getting everyone’s flight information and I e-mailed the entries to the team, parents and coaches.  Several parents had questions about entries and I responded to them by e-mail. 

We're getting ready for Olympic Hopes Regatta (OHR) in Szeged, Hungary.  The guys who were in the selection process at US National Championships did a mini taper for that race and are finishing up their second week of a 3 week anaerobic cycle.  We'll do our major taper for OHR starting on Thursday of this week.  Today is a recovery day after a hard anaerobic day yesterday.  Two water workouts and one weight workout are on the schedule.

As US Team Leader, I'm involved in the planning and execution of the US effort.  Mac Hickox, USA Canoe/Kayak National Development Director, has made most of the plans and Kristi Guay, Team Manager has been a great help in sorting through details.

I've had nice discussions with a couple of parents of team members and appreciate their input and support.

There is a possible travel glitch in that Lufthansa workers are staging disruptive strikes.  We are looking at alternatives once we get to Frankfurt - train and bus.

I continue to look forward to a great trip!