Rob Crowe's Euros - part two
Image: Claire O'Hara
I took the next two days off the water with my wrist frequently on ice. This was pretty hard seeing everyone working the feature improving session by session whilst I was sat on the side. I spent quite a lot of time thinking about various ride plans and the different setups I'd been using for moves from the time I had spent on the feature before. Dennis was very keen on me focusing on the positives of this time off the water. I would be fresher come the competition, and it also forced me to have more belief in my ability to do the moves when required rather than feeling like I had to have done the moves hundreds of times.
I waited out the next morning and then hopped on in the afternoon for two very short sessions to test the wrist out. I was raring to go and paddled pretty well, maybe overdoing it a touch so I rested the following morning and was then back on it from there for the next three days managing two or three sessions a day. All the nations and big name paddlers were arriving. I was paddling really well, hitting my ride plan pretty consistently. I even received compliments from Matteau Damoulin, which I responded to like an embarrassed teenager, mumbling something about the feature being similar to inlet gate. I was finally starting to believe that I belonged up there with the likes of Matteau and all the other top guys.
Standing up a big loop (Emma Witherford)
Charging the eddy in the prelims (Nuria Fontane Maso)
Into the second week and the three days of team training began, I've never been fond of it and after missing out on team last year it had been over two years since I've done it. Training to compete and actually competing I'm getting a reasonable handle on but team training I still find really hard. The pressure of limited time and the fact that you feel as though you are going head to head with all your team mates is not something I enjoy. I wasn't paddling at the level where I wanted to be, the main positive to take was that I knew I could paddle far better. For the third day of team training the water levels rose significantly. I had been going to sit out the last training session and rest, given how well I'd paddled after the time off with my wrist, but due to the different water level and more relaxed session I hopped on for a couple of rides.
Discussing with Den between rides (Nuria Fontane Maso)
Me and Gav checking out the feature (Hannah De Silva)
The opening ceremony was one of the best I've been to, featuring speeches, free beer and pretzels, parading behind horse drawn brewery trailers and a collection of puppies, which were a real hit. It was now time for the competition to start. I was fourth up in the first heat and though the organisers had been told the high water would have dropped by the competition, it was in fact still pretty high. Luckily I had the other three guys to watch and made it through to the cut of 20 for quarters in 6th. I went one better in the quarters making the cut to 5 for semis in 5th. So far the competing had been pretty tough. Due to the water levels going from very high level to a good high level throughout all the heats everyone was having to feel the feature out as they went, making for quite low scores. This meant instead of dropping in and paddling at my usual tempo I ended up in a bit of a vicious circle where I was going in thinking about keeping a slow pace to get the moves and not flush but at the same time the slower pace was making me over think each move and paddle a bit clunkily and not very fluidly.
For the semis though the scores started to rocket up, something I was almost hoping for. Being in the second heat of the semi meant I knew the score I had to beat and as it was high it meant for the first time that I could go all out, not be actively conservative, paddle at my usual pace and hopefully give a good account of my paddling. I had a really good first ride and though I may have done enough to make the cut. The score came back a little lower than expected so some of the moves must have been a touch borderline. On my second ride I went out and tried to hit the same ride but make sure everything scored. I took an early flush and was unfortunately unable to better my first ride finishing 6th, one spot from the finals. I was disappointed to get so close to the final, but to be top Brit and feel like I am almost ready to join the party with all the top guys I couldn't be too disheartened. I now know the areas of my paddling to work on to help me hopefully make the jump up to that next level and, with the changing water levels, I learnt a hell of a lot in terms of adapting to the competition and doing what's needed when it's needed.
It was now time for the closing ceremony and then the winners party. Normally a bit pale in comparison to the losers party this one was quite the opposite with the paddling community descending on the local Volksfest beer tent for much table dancing and stein clinking. We headed back the next day arriving home mid morning on Bank Holiday Monday. I decided it was best to try to stay awake all day and just go to bed early. Of course in my very sleepy state I decided the best way to stay awake was to go for a paddle. Cue a long afternoon soul surfing the Fairy Wave back home at HPP after a reasonably successful Euros.
