Yesterday at 6 pm local time the official opening ceremony of started the 2009 ICF Freestyle Kayak World Championships in Thun Switzerland. Athletes from 30 different countries will battle for the prestigious crown in their classes. All the best to all of them and let the games begin !

Joe Grey of the Teva US Mountain Running Team sends us this report from Europe.  The team is defending it's 2008 World Championship Bronze medal in Italy on Sept 6th.   Chekc back for more USMRT updates from the World Championships.

Ciao,


Simon G., Rickey G., and I (Joe G.) raced up north in the Piemonte region of Italy in a small town known as Susa. For Rickey and I, it was the last tune up before the big one next week. Simon came across the Atlantic for Susa's historic race, which has been around since 1989!

The race featured a good field with runners from Ethiopia, Japan, USA, New Zealand, Kenya, France, and of course some strong Italians. Many of them with superb road times. The race went out fast as usual. The partenza (start) changed from last year. There had been some construction going on...for a few years. So, finally this year I was able to run the original start of the course. However, an avalanche ruined any hopes of comparing times from the year as the route from 7k on was modified. Approaching the 2k mark, you could see a pack of Ethiopians and Kenyans with Simon and Jono hanging in there as well. A few kilometers later the pack thinned out and I found myself in the mix. Simon was right there as well with Rickey lurking a few seconds back. Jono blew the race open and the ranks stayed pretty much the same nearing 10k. The fog near the top also limited any changing of places being that you if you had someone 10 seconds ahead, they became invisible. In the end I placed 5th, Simon ended up 8th right in front of Rickey at 9th.

At the finish with our friend from Japan


At the prize ceremony. One of the longest waits for a ceremony you will ever experience. First a remembrance of the Partigiani (battle that eventually liberated Italy in 1945) is carried out, moments later a church service along with some singing goes on for a bit. After service, following the Catholic tradition, Communion takes place. Then, after a few hours of hunger, the prize ceremony goes on simultaneously with lunch

During the week of the race a cultural celebration takes place in Susa. After some traditional dances and music from Mexico, Slovakia, and Italy the race directors announced the elite field with the locals in attendance. Its amazing how excited the town is for the runners, for such a small town they had more enthusiasm about mountain running than many of the races I have been to in America

Post-race quote from GU (Who is no longer allowed to say he is old, since he keeps running fast and beating all the young guys)
Simon G.
"It's good to be back in Europe racing, had a solid run and looking forward to supporting the US team at Worlds next week!"
Well hope to see the rest of the team next week, safe travels......Spero che abbiate un buon viaggio!!!

Hey Guys,

Here is a video update from a little waterfall hucking project I did with www.redbullspecialops.co.nz here in NZ. Fun little road trip and a sick waterfall huck in the far north of NZ!

Team Teva Athlete Ron Fischer recently returned from an amazing 2 week kayak trip in Norway, only by using the train to get to and from the rivers. Here his report:

A much heard adage among paddlers: “kayaking equal motorsport.” Do not be, we thought and booked Inter rail tickets for Norway. The kayaks heavy loaded with equipment to survive, we entered the train in Voss and went off for a two week adventure. 

I've just launched a new website River-Roots.com

 More updates coming soon!

 Rush

Simon say “cheese and cow country”….

It seems the stable diet of Swiss is just that cheese and bread, where brie is the cheapest cheese and I can’t find soy milk anywhere….

In a room with Elaine Campbell and Corry Volt, I heard an alarm for 3:30am… Hiring a taxi they headed into town for a moonlit season. Returning they say there was 20 people constantly on the wave. Apparently this was the case all night. And I though I was crazy getting up at 5:00am….

Unfortunately they upper lake level dropped over night severely affecting the wave. By morning light the feature had changed demonically for the worst. The pile moving back and forth and green out completely.  Countries like Canada, US, Germany, Norway and Ireland where most affected.

Today I am only focus on harder high scoring moves, focusing on committing to the move, fast excitation and fast recovery.

Unfortunately I have to say that after my first 4 rides I had lost my focus.. It is never a good feeling. I was successful in landing flip turns and helix, but failed in my back moves. I was unable to feel where I was on the wave.

After much reflection and analyzing, talking with Bryan Kirk we can to the conclusion that the initiation window is smaller. Straight down the pipe, not to use the shoulder at all. If possible; through a move off every pass, this way, as you land you come to the top in the middle, to race down the face for another move. If you use the shoulders you end up landing in the side then have to set up to get to the top.

It will be an early 3:00am session for me tomorrow…

Cheers T- Faux

Collage of the sights and sounds at the Freestyle World Championships in Switzerland.

To see a larger version of the image click below:

Tanya Faux-Teva- World Championships.jpg (9.45 mb)

Teva Supported Canadian paddler Kelsey Thompson reports from the 20009 Freestyle World Championships:

I’ve been in Switzerland for a week and finally had my first session on the wave this morning. My initial reaction was, damn that’s a small wave, I thought it was going to be bigger. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that moves actually went much better than I thought they would. Clean blunts, helix’s, air screws the works…and all on a wave that’s just a couple of feet tall.


Prior to the wave forming this morning I had been doing the tourist thing. I’ve only been to Europe once before and it hardly counted (I spent the night in London on my way back from Africa). I have to say that Switzerland is far more beautiful than London! Cow’s with actual cow bells around their necks, warm weather, stereotypical homes, really expensive but delicious meats and cheeses and the alps are always in the background! I’ve seen Einstein’s house, eight million flowers, and been two kilometres into a cave with stalactites and stalagmites in an evil layer setting.


Until now training for the competition has been a little different. My daily training routine has gone something like this:

- Wake up just in time to fight off Billy Harris before he jumps in my bed and spoons me.
- Eat, shower brush teeth etc.
- Chase fly’s around the house and enforce window closure. The windows here have no screens and the fly’s drive me nuts when I’m trying to sleep.
- Make up my own German words, most of which are English worlds with dumb endings on them. Cook would be cookinhausin, run struttinfasten, stretch flexzbodin, that kind   of thing.
- See the sights around Thun and the surrounding area.
- Remind Billy how ugly he is (we have a unique relationship)
- Eat, watch a movie, go to bed, and do it all over again


That may not sound overly exciting but it’s actually been a really good time and it’s always nice to have a bit of down time before a big competition so you’re coming into it with a fresh body and mentality. The Canadian Team has training again tomorrow morning at 8:00am, I can’t wait to get back on the water!


Kelsey Thompson

Bern, Switzerland.

Swiss countryside.

long cave.

clean blunt.

It's been a minute since my last blog post, and it's not for lack of news. The past month in Canada has been absolutely all time. I started out doing some coaching with the Keener program on the Ottawa which was an awesome experience. The Keener program is a great school for experienced 14-18 year old kayakers. They are all ridiculously good boaters and a wicked bunch of kids. Cool to see the next generation of rippers... During my time on the Ottawa I was also constantly occupied with my music as well as the new film STAKEOUT. I'm really excited about this movie and I think it's going to be hot hot fire. My buddy Joel Kowalski (Canadian Team) did most the filming and I helped him with some editing and post production. The best part? Stakeout will be released online as a free movie to download. It's total skate/snowboard style film all killer no filler.

It's been crunch time to get the movie finished, but we managed to do it at the last possible moment. This is standard practice for most projects in my life.... In between edits and music sessions, i've been paddling every single day and focused on putting together the best possible ride for worlds... Also been working on my new webpage for RIVER ROOTS which will be up soon... As well I have 2 hip hop performances in Switzerland so i'm trying to get all my lyrics/tracks together...

It's been a busy month! That being said, it's all stuff I love to do! I've now just rocked into Switzerland, and it's wicked to see all my friends from all over the world. Dutchies, Ugandans, Frenchies, Canadians etc. Gotta love this community. More of a dysfunctional family. Practice rides start tomorrow morning. I've had one day off in the last month and i've been up for 2 days. Traveling, paddling, editing. Actually taking it easy tonight so I can prepare myself for the comp. To be honest i've never really strategized that much before an event, but i've put a lot of visualization and practice into this one. It's going to be the hardest worlds ever, with amazing talent from all corners of the globe. This is my 4th worlds, and although i've been in my creek boat as much as my playboat this year, I have a lot of experience with competition on my side... I  I am blessed to be living this lifestyle, and at the moment stoked to be where i'm at. I don't take any of it for granted and I owe a lot to companies like Teva who make it possible for me to do this... Competition starts on the 31st. 

For now enjoy a montage of shots from the past few months. Stakeout poster, Keener camp, worlds training etc.

ALSO Stakout World Premier next Thursday here in beautiful Thun, Switzerland!

Right now I’m sitting in Prague airport waiting for my final flight to Zurich. The trips been smooth. I checked in the massive box that contains my new boat, 2 paddles, paddling gear and 2 sets of Teva Gnars. At a total weight of 28kg it managed to be checked in for just $150… lucky! 

One last flight and I’ll be arriving into Zurich just in time to catch a train to Thun and meet up with the rest of the Australian team for the first day of team training on the wave… cant wait!

Only days ago and after weeks of flat out work I was finally able to finish up my Worlds kayak… it’s only been on the water 3 times so far but paddles like a dream. These World Championships it seems will be more of a chance for me to finally get back in my boat and catch up with friends then anything else.

Well the last few weeks have been pretty hectic. I was able to make my way down to Salt Lake City to meet up with the rest of the Teva crew at the Outdoor Retailer Show where I was also displaying one of the first prototypes of the new Titan Kayaks I’d been working on in the Teva booth itself. 

Since being back in Canada I’ve been underground working on a newer, better design due to be out just before the worlds (I actually just got in from huffing resin fumes from laying up the top half of the mold). Originally this wasn’t going to be the plan, but the changes were there to be made and the idea of having the perfect boat was just too tempting to pass up. 3 weeks of non-stop work on the new plug and this is what we’ve come up with.

Below are some shots of my mate Ben Fraser and myself working on the new plug. Unfortunately working on the new design has meant absolutely no training, or even paddling for the past 4 weeks leading up to Worlds, but in the end having a boat that people are going to be stoked on is an easy trade off. I haven’t been this excited about a boat in a long long time.