Wv Red Bull Divide And Conquer Kayak Qualifier

[BrianJ]

THE WEST VIRGINIA CONNECTION… The Qualifier
In an attempt to encourage some of our fine eastern competitors to take part, Red Bull is offering athletes the opportunity to win an expense paid trip to the Divide and Conquer in Colorado. All you have to do is win the qualifying event in West Virginia.
The qualifier is a chance to win your plane ticket, hotel, and a spot on a team composed of winners from all disciplines to form the east coast’s top team. Four women and four men will make up two teams that will travel to Colorado this June to compete in the national event. These Mountain Bike, Trail Run, and Kayak and events will be held on May 7, 14, and 22 respectively. --- The races are open to all who are qualified.

THE KAYAK - Sunday, May 22, 2005 - Gauley or New River, WV
The Kayak qualifier will take place on Sunday, May 22nd at 2:00pm. Depending on water levels, the race will take place either on the Gauley or the New. The race will have a lemans style start, with a minimum of 8 miles of Class IV, Class V paddling ending with a short run with full gear to the finish line. Boat length must be no more than 9ft and someone known within the industry must vouch for your skill level to paddle Class V water.

Kayak Contact: Brian Jennings at myfavoritenarrtian@hotmail.com

The Main Event: The Red Bull Divide & Conquer is a one-day mountain sports relay event held in Southwest Colorado which will take place on June 18, 2005. Paragliders, Trail Runners, Kayakers, and Mountain Bikers form a team of four athletes relaying a chunk of silver along this incredibly difficult course. Teams compete for their share of a $17,500 prize and an all-expense paid trip to Austria to compete in the 2005 Dolomitenmann

[scottyb]

If the kayakers are limited to a boat no longer than 9' then the mountain bikers should have to use a tricycle! What a crock of BS. :mad:

[rterry]

now i don't agree with the length restriction either. but shouldn't an actively training athlete with finely honed downriver racing skills win regardless of the boat length? I suppose there are reasons to restrict boat length, ie organizer want to keep the heats tighter which somewhat changes the requisite skill set and can make things a little more "spectator friendly".

[thewildwaterguy]

so If i race somebody in a flatwater sprint kayak for 1 minute, I will get huge separation, because the boat will glide between strokes, and it can go as fast as i can make it go.
an 8 foot boat has a maximum hull speed which would keep times closer. and in a racing situation, would make each athletes lines in rapids count for a lot more time than their actual athleticism, and speed. thats cool, the best boater wins, but its a race right - isnt the fastest boater supposed to win?

this is why tao and sam drevo can beat beakes, scot shipley and kurt braunlich in extreme/boatercross races. In my opinion, if you can get a longer boat down a course safely, and do it faster than everyone else - you deserve to win. length restrictions have their place i suppose ( to keep guys like me from automatically winning) but for a race like divide and conquer its bullsh*t

[rterry]

The fastest boater still wins, it is a race. The "best" boater (within the confines of the rules) is the boater that gets their under 9' boat from point "a" to point "b" fastest, therefore the "best" boater is also the "fastest" boater. The rules are the rules, in theory the most capable athlete will win. If an athlete wants to show their prowess in wildwater, there is an opportunity to do that, if they want to do so in a mass start event in boats 9' and under, there is an opportunity to do that. to play the devil's advocate, if you took all the gates out of the slalom course guys like you (or your czech counterparts) would automatically win that event as well, but it would be a different event. If it is important for you to race and win wildwater events, train wildwater, likewise for slalom, freestyle, and this evolving class of short boat races on "more challenging" whitewater.

now on to why this event seems like a little less than ideal: the divide and conquer is not limited to 9' boats. so why is the qualifier? Jennings? I'm not trying to unmercilessly light you up or anything, I think the opportunity alone is sweet, but why can't I bring my big fast boat?

[thewildwaterguy]

but shorter hulls do make everyone about the same speed - because there is a point where no matter how much energy you put into your stroke, the boat will not accelerate proportionally to that extra energy. jasons life revolves around this concept right now so i would ask him. it makes things more competitive. as I said - races like that have a place - they get more people to participate inmany cases than a traditional wildwater race for example.

lets take this discussion over to the common ground forum. no sence having it where only we read it

[BrianJ]

There is a boat length restriction for the event I am running, because there is now a length restriction for the Main Event in Colorado as well. As long as it is 9ft or under, you are good to go.
Just wanted to clear that up...

Also, we will be qualifing one man AND one woman, so all you ladies, bring it on!

Thanks for the interest and support!

Brian