2007 USACK Sprint Nationals: Day 3 Summary
Day 3 Summary
August 16, 2007
Seattle showcased some famous northwest weather this morning at the 2007 USACK Sprint National Championships. While the races were, mercifully, spared any rain, clouds covered and cooled the venue, not burning off until around the noon lunch break. The wind had also shifted sometime during the night, becoming a fierce headwind that buffeted paddlers from either side during the day's races. The wind was not the only thing to change for Thursday's races, however, as the race distance was halved to 500 meters. Racers worked to qualify for final events, to be held Friday, mainly in their single K1 or C1 races, though some K2 races required heats and semi-finals to narrow the field to the best of the racers. Later in the day, the distance changed again as the lightning-quick 200 meter semi-finals were held, giving racers one last chance to qualify for the finals for the 200 meter events, to be held Saturday morning.
The races started off strong with the C1 Senior men's heats, and only got better after that. Lanier's Claudiu Ciur and Robert Finlayson powered down the 500 meter course, both dueling for the top spot in their heats. While Ciur managed to kick his boat past Finlayson in the final few hundred meters, both qualified for tomorrow's final. They will be joined by, among others, two-time Olympian Jordan Malloch. Brandon Woods and Pat Dolan of Hawaii managed to win their respective heats, and will be joined in their Senior final by former Olympians Peter Newton and John Mooney. Seattle's Jeff Cayton and Gig Harbor's Brian Stopoulos gave excellent performances in their heats, moving on the final to challenge the 1000 meter champion, Trenton Tam of Hawaii, for the 500 meter title tomorrow. Junior Worlds team member Cedric Bond managed to easily secure a spot in his Juvenile final, where he will compete against San Diego's Nicholas Hanoian and Ryan Stock, among others, for the championship title.
Perhaps the most exciting event of the day, however, was the Bantam Women's 500 meter preliminaries. With 37 racers competing over five heats and four semi-finals, there was a lot of winnowing to be done as the best of these young girls raced off for spots in the 9-lane final race. This Bantam group, which consists of those under 14 years of age, rose to the occasion spectacularly, with many upsets and hard racing all around as each girl summoned the energy to make one final kick and be the first across the finish line.
The Finals for the 500 meter events begin Friday at 8:00 in the morning. Racing continues through Saturday.
www.scn.org/rec/sckc/usack2007
Contacts: USACK-tamara@usack.org | SCKC-david@firstharvest.org
