B ON THE MISH: Teva Mountain Games in Vail, CO.

The 1^st major event on our hit list was the Teva Mountain games in Vail, Colorado, a week-long event with all sorts of adventure and extreme events. I flew into Denver to meet Sam and Katharina and headed straight towards the Rocky Mountains, but not before a quick reunion with Carls Jr. Welcome back to America!

We had a couple of days up our sleeve to train and try to get used to the significantly decreased amount of oxygen available to us. Vail itself is pretty high, but the creek we were to race on is up around 9000ft so 3000m.

My first impressions of Homestake creek were that of a steep, scary, boat breaking mank-fest, but after a couple of runs down and getting used to the lines I actually came to really like the course. I liked how technical it was, you had to be perfect to be smooth. Just paddling normally (not racing), your lungs are burning by half way down the course (its only 2min long) and you start to lose the feeling in your hands due to the icy cold water. This was a tad worrying for my race in a few days, because you really don’t want to muck up your line down this run, especially if you want to keep your face.


Boofing the cleanest drop halfway down the run. Lungs burning, fingers numb.

Talking lines and catching our breath before the last section.

After a quick couple runs down the race section, we made our way up to a little town called Steamboat, for the paddle-lite pro, a small competition consisting of a creek race and a freestyle competition.

Sam and I managed to take out the creek race 1^st and 2^nd, and we placed 8^th and 9^th in the freestyle which was enough to place top 5 overall, and walk away with some money. The Steamboat race is a fun little competition, its pretty chilled out but still attracts a quality field, and it was great preparation in the high altitude for the Teva games a few days later.

Where's the step ladder for this thing?

Homestake steep creek championships

The first event in the Teva Mountain games is the steep creek championship, which is our main event, the main reason we come to Vail. The race attracts many of the top paddlers in the world, the competition is fierce, and the prize money is good. $2000US for the winner.

The fastest combined total of two runs down the course would determine the winner. Each competitor gets one run down the course before they cut the field in half, so its pretty cut throat, but I just managed to make it through to the finals. My first run was actually quite good, but with one really stupid mistake halfway down the course costing me lot of time. My 2nd run was not so good, although 5 seconds faster than my first run, I made quite a few little mistakes in several places down the run.

I finished up 17^th, which at first I was pretty disappointed with, but I couldn’t really expect much more for not having paddled for the last 2 months. On the good side, my ribs and back were feeling great.

Honza Lasko (Czech) and Mike Dawson tied for 1^st place (how does that happen?), after 2 runs down their combined totals were the same, down to the hundredths of a second, with Jakob Nemec coming in 3rd. Adriene Levkinect dominated the womens class, posting times that would have put her high on the mens table, and fellow kiwis Nikki Kelly and Louise Urwin coming in 2nd and 5th.

Here's a couple vids with some of the highlights...

8 Ball Race

Later on in the week I also competed in what they call the 8 Ball race. This race is a 200m sprint down grade 2 whitewater, with '8-ballers' (kayakers, tandem kayakers, rafts and stand-up paddlers) positioned all down the course to attack/block/slow down the racers. The only rule is you can’t take your hand off your paddle. This race is super fun and great for the spectators, as it is on a section of river in downtown Vail, and there’s heaps of carnage.

You can’t really go in with a plan other than to go fast, as most of your plans will be turned upside down. You need to be fast, take all your chances, and most importantly get lucky.

Somehow I managed these in all my heats, and made it into the finals. In the final I was just pipped at the finish line by Mike Dawson, with Dave Fusilli close behind in 3^rd. I was stoked to come away with some more money, in the know that the airline would probably charge me an arm to get my boat on the plane to Europe. After the race it was a quick pack up and drive back to Denver for a flight to Germany.