Summer 2012

So this summer has been pretty interesting for me. I have had a lot of life changes as of recent and none of them are really allowing me to push my kayaking to the next level. I got a full time job being a Paramedic for Greenville County EMS and I moved further from the Green. I work 12 hour night shifts four times a week, makes for a sleepy Adriene during the day. 

Getting ready for competition

Any who.... I have been up to a bunch of no good this summer which includes a lot of freestyle kayaking. I won the BV pro rodeo and placed 5th at the Teva Mountain Games. I used the whole month of July to make some money then headed to the World Cup of Freestyle kayaking after winning the Canoe and Kayak Female Paddler of the Year award. 

Elbows up!

 The first part of the World Cup was at Rock Island Tennessee. The same place where Jackson Kayak is made. The water levels were a little off because of the lack of rain around the area but we made it happen no matter what. At one point, during a training session, there were 53 people in the eddy..... that made for some really fun times. 

All play boating jokes aside, the first event went well and I couldn't complain with a strong 3rd place finish. It was definitely my type of feature, flushy but sticky and you could do both wave and hole moves, that was the type of feature that I would like to see more of. 

Poison Ivy vine that I just wrapped around my face....

Doing all that I can do....

Mr and Mrs Andrew Moore

The second spot was great but only yielded hole moves. I ended up 8th overall but I also had a wedding to attend in Michigan over the weekend.

The competition must go on though. Over to my real backyard which is the NOC. I began kayaking at the NOC 13 years ago when I was 11 years old, it is like a second home to me. Being back at the NOC makes me really happy. 

Even though I fought really hard to get into the finals I was beat out by a girl who did two felixes to get into finals and I ended up 6th place. Overall for the whole World Cup I ended up 5th place. Pretty impressive for a girl who spends like 15 days in a freestyle boat a year. Its training time for the Green race now. 

Sooner rather than later!!

Adriene