World Cup # three, and the tour continues.

We traveled over the state line to Rock Island Tennessee for World Cup number three. This is a spectacular place to have a world cup and one of the most prettiest places for a feature. Unfortunately due to the drought that the South East has been going through, water for training has been a bit of a problem. We only got a 45 minute practice which converted to about five practice rides. One of the least amount of practice time I have ever seen for a competition. The only good thing about this was everyone was on the same page.

Day one was Junior prelims, practice on the water and a meal provided by the local truck stop-Bino’s.

Day two started off with a Jackson Kayak demo down at the lake. This was a whole lot bigger than I expected as at one time there were 70 people down there either in boats, looking at boats or talking about boats. I spent a great deal of time with a few people helping them double pump boats and also got a few new kids into boats for their first paddling experience, John and Robert. The rest of the afternoon was spent on the water with the men’s and women’s preliminaries with everyone not scoring very big scores and people still getting used to the feature. That night was the best party of the World Cup thanks to the sponsors Jack Daniels, Red Bull and Jackson Kayak. The party was held at the Jackson Kayak Plant where Elvis made an appearance and I can guarantee this….Elvis is most certainty not dead!

Day Three was the finals including Men’s and Women’s K1, C1, OC1 and Squirt. Some huge runs were thrown down by Clay Wright which threw him up to the top of the standings. C1, Guillaume once again showed how to paddle with one blade while Nick took out the Juniors and Tanya in the women’s. Sure it’s not on top billing but OC1 was quite a spectacle with the biggest rides of the world cup being thrown down. Eli and I tied for the best ride with some clean’s and split wheels. It came down to the judges looking back at the previous rides to determine the winner which meant I just nosed in front of Eli for the win, although my congrats go to Eli for winning the World Cup.

No surprises in the Men’s K1 with all Jackson Boaters taking the top placings and E.J. continuing his domination.

That night turned into a party at the Fog light with presentations and speeches. A big thanks to all the organizers, Judges, Scribes, Volunteers, helpers and everyone else that played a part in the 2006 World Cup.

Thanks to the support from all my mates who turned up to wish me well including the Burgess family. I hope you had an awesome time and I appreciate your support.

Congrats to the following World Cup Winners:

Men’s Pro
Eric Jackson- USA
Stephen Wright- USA
Clay Wright- USA

Junior Women
Sara Hunter -USA
Noria Newman- France
Alexandra Shallhorn- Canada

Women’s Pro
Tanya Faux- Australia
Emily Jackson- USA
Ruth Gordon- Canada

Junior Men
Nick Troutman- Canada
Dane Jackson- USA
Sam Sutton- New Zealand

C-1
Guillaume La Rue- Canada
Seth Chapelle- USA
Joe Stumpfel- USA

OC-1
Eli Helbert- USA
Jez Blanchard-Australia
Jeremy Lauks- USA
Dooley Tombras- USA

Squirt women
Devon- USA
Valerie Bertrand- Canada
Kim Gauthier- Canada

Squirt men
Koyo Morita- Japan
Jeremy Lauks- USA
Matt McGuire- Canada

Now for those that think that the World Tour is over, I regret to inform you that you are mistaken. That’s right we are still on tour and will be on tour for the next few weeks. Gauley Festival is this weekend and Team week follows. So there is a bunch of fun to be had that’s for sure and I can’t wait to see how intense Gauley. I hope all the hype and stories are true.

As for right now, some of the folk are going out wake boarding, some going to the rope swing and some cruzing the internet taking a break. This is officially team wind down day!

Stay tuned for some pictures from Mat.

jez