Open Canoe Slalom - 100 first place titles for Kaz Monday, August 03, 2009

Thanks to Hailey Thompson's dad, Michael for use of these great photos from the Open Canoe Slalom national championships. i've got loads of great video footage which I'm looking forward to editing when I get home later this month. I really enjoyed being at this event, the people were all really friendly and good fun and I became quite fascinated with the sport. I had 3 tries at running the river myself in a tandem canoe and I'm really grateful to Kaz, Gail and Carolyn for taking me down the course. i filmed some great people including John Kaz, who won his 100th first place title in a national competition today. what an amazing achievement. He won the event in light weight high performance canoes that he makes through his company Millbrook Boats.

I also did some filming with Hailey Thompson, a 15 year old girl from Wisconsin who is making a big splash in the whitewater arena. not only did she win 4 or 5 events at this competition, she's also on the US senior team in her decked canoe and she's about to head off to Europe to compete in the World Championships ( the first time that women have been allowed to compete in international canoe events).

The photos are ( from top to bottom)
1. Hailey Thompson
2. Kaz
3. Amy and Pete
4. Hailey and Kaz
5. Vanessa and Gail