This was the 4th year of the Triple Crown on the Farmington River in CT.  What another great event that was put on by the organizers and volunteers. It’s a downriver race, slalom, and freestyle competition and you get points on your placing in each event.  Saturday is the qualifying day and individual prizes and Sunday is the day the Triple Crown gets awarded.

There were not as many competitors this year so the event moved a little faster than last year.  Saturday the event started at 9:15am with the downriver race and a few of us were so fast that we beat the timer to the finish line and had to race again!  After downriver racing you hop into a slalom boat and run the course twice and you are crazy tired! Then you squeeze yourself into your playboat for 2 freestyle runs.  You are officially cooked at that point and guess what, you get to do it again tomorrow if you qualify!  Ten men moved on from Saturday and since there were only four women we all moved on to Sunday.

Saturday night we tried to get a good night sleep in the RV but Laya our fat cat kept us up all night meowing and scratching at my face for pets.  We wanted to cook her like a chicken!  Anyway, Sunday morning arrived and we got to the race put in around 8am.  I was feeling good and wanted to better my time from Saturday which I did by 1 second!  Not what I was hoping for but it’s better than being a second slower.  Emily of course beat me in the downriver race by a lot.  She was 4 minutes 12 seconds and I was 4 minutes 30 seconds.  Rachel came in 3rd and Courtney from New Zealand came in 4th. It doesn’t seem like a hard race but when you know it’s only 4 something minutes you go all out and it hurts.

The next event is slalom and I was lucky enough to borrow Andy’s sweet slalom boat on Sunday, which helped improve my time by like 40 seconds from Saturday.  I had 2 good slalom runs and my second run was clean and was 154 seconds and came in 3rd.  Emily of course crushed the slalom with 122 seconds and was 1st.  Rachel who is a slalom boater also did really well and came in 2nd, her best run was 132 seconds. Courtney came in 4th with 168 seconds. When the slalom race was over a bunch of the competitors went across the river to help take down gates before we started the freestyle event.  It was a huge help to get the gates down so the volunteers wouldn’t have worry about it.

The last event of the day was freestyle and since it was finals you had 3 runs and your best one counts.  The level was good but you crushed the bottom on your loops or at least I did. Emily of course killed it in freestyle with 600 points coming in 1st.  I had a 180 point ride with my most signature move the mcnasty flush for a 2nd place finish. Courtney came in 3rd for freestyle with 90 and Rachel in 4.

The Triple Crown results for women is Emily, me, and Rachel.  In the mens class was EJ, Danny, and Nick.  The mens class was super close this year and Jordan came in 4th in C1 which was pretty awesome.

I had a great time again and am looking forward to next year!  I left CT then headed to FL to drive my mother in law’s car and dog back to MA and now I’m hanging out at my sister in law’s house in DE and will be back home tomorrow after I drop her car off. Then it’s getting ready for the big trip out west!

Photo by: Scott Barnes

Photo by: Scott Barnes

Photo by: Scott Barnes

Photo by: Jake Gosnell

Photo by: Jake Gosnell

Laya the fat cat!

Till next time,

Elaine Campbell

I’ve been wanting to do this race for a few years but it’s usually the same weekend as the NOC Shootout and have gone to the shootout. This year I decided to bail on the NOC event and compete at the Inferno. The Inferno is a 8.3 mile run, 5 mile kayak, 18 mile bike, 3 mile hike, and skiing down Tuckermans Ravine. Here’s a link to the race course map http://www.friendsoftuckerman.org/2012-InfernoMap-revised.pdf

I was on a Team of 5 women called Team Broads with Kim Seaman our runner, Nicole Vassar our biker, Nancy Caldwell the hiker, Ali O’Rourke skied and I was the kayaker. We competed in the all women’s category against 4 women teams and wanted to do well in the overall Inferno category.

Jeff, Nancy and I arrived Thursday night in North Conway, NH so I could get a low water practice run in on Friday on the Saco River and stopped by Saco Bound Outdoors in Conway, NH to talk about Wave Sport boats. The rest of the team arrived Friday for registration at Flatbread Pizza. We ate, had a couple beers and started to get psyched up for Saturday morning.

The alarm clock started going off at 5:30am and Jeff was up making coffee and breakfast. The race started right at 7am with the run and off went Kim plus the other 65 racers. We immediately drove over to the kayak tag zone so I could get ready. Mark my brother, our buddy Simpson and John were all doing the kayak race so we were all harassing each other while we waited for our runners to arrive. Mark, John and I had carbon wildwater boats and Simpson had a wavehopper. Most of the people competing in the kayak race were in sea/rec kayaks.

John was the first to go his runner came in first with a 48:59 time. A few more runners came in then Mark’s runner came in with a time of 55:20 and then Simpson went out before me when his runner came in at 1.04:49. I was thinking to myself that Kim should be coming in any second now but there was no sign of her. Joanne who is soloing the event came in at 1.11:18 and told us that Kim was in trouble and we needed to get to her. Kim started out a little hot with her pace and had a touch of heatstroke by the time she got to the transition zone, but after a quick discussion, Jeff, Nancy and I decided to keep on going and I was soon on my way down the trail, across a mostly dry riverbed, into my boat and down the Saco. Unfortunately my starting time did not get recorded as the tag took place just prior to the transition zone. On the upside, Kim had a very quick recovery and we were still in the hunt.

I passed a fair number of boats and felt very good about my performance. Without the official time it’s hard to know for sure but think I was in the low to mid 40’s based on factors we could figure and my past performances against some of the other boaters in the race. There were some moments where I had to slow down to wait for traffic jams so it could have been a bit longer. I saw the finish and sprinted as hard as I could fell out of my boat and ran to Nicole for the bike tag.

Nicole went on her way and took a wrong turn, luckily, Jayson saw her going the wrong way and let her know. She went about a half mile out of the way… oops! Nicole got to the base of Mount Washington in 1.16:20 and tagged Nancy for the hike up to the Ravine. Nancy flew up the mountain with a time of 1.06:56 to tag Ali. Ali had to “boot pack” up to the top of Left Gulley in the bowl of the ravine and ski the giant slalom course down. She did it in 36:53 and Team Broads finished the Tuckerman Inferno in 5.05:27.

We pulled together when we needed to and bounced back from a rough start. We had a 3rd place finish in the Tuckerwoman event and a 29th place finish overall in the event out of 66. The good news is that Kim was ok and that we continued to compete and not just give up. We are all going to do it again next year and hopefully we have no hiccups but if we do we are prepared to deal with them.

The next event on the schedule is the New England Triple Crown in CT. We got some rain so the level is going to be great! Come out and compete or just come out and watch!

Practice Run

Simpson, Mark and I waiting for our runners.

Mark gets the tag!

Ali waiting for the tag.

Left Gulley!

Mark, Astrid and I waiting for our skiers at HoJo’s hut!

Till next time,

Elaine Campbell

The Spring run off this year was weak due to lack of snow. The rivers ran for about a week and then dropped out. I was able to get on 2 new runs in NH the Swift and the Sawyer River and spent a couple days on the Black River in NY where we froze our butts off!  I’ve put together a little video from my spring boating.

The next competition on my schedule is the Mount Washington Tuckerman Inferno Pentathlon which is April 21. I’m very excited about this race hoping to have a really good race run.  I’ll post an update about it after the race and keep your fingers crossed for rain!

Till next time,

Elaine Campbell

It feels good to put my winter gear away and bring out the paddling gear even though VT didn’t have much of winter.  I’ve taken advantage of what little snow pack we have and been in my variety of boats a bunch.  The run off this year is pretty weak with lack of snow and I’m keeping my fingers crossed for rain but not Irene type rain.

My 2012 season is kicking off and it’s going to be a good one! The Berkshire Highlands Pentathlon Race is on March 31st this is my first race of the season on the Deerfield River.  Hopefully I’ll get the kinks worked out by then! Check out my website for my 2012 schedule if you’d like at www.elainecampbellkayaking.com

I should get a video out soon from Spring boating!

Till next time,

Elaine Campbell

Loving my Shred Ready winter helmet the Forty4!