Peter’s Paddling Blog

Tour de Gudenaa this year was a different beast as Morten and I decided to race in the K2 class. Not that we had any K2 race experience and in fact we had less than 10 previous K2 training sessions together.

The club’s marathon Vajda Ultrasonic K2 was reserved for a stronger team so we picked a sprint edition Ultrasonic meaning a slightly heavier boat without pump. We did consider using a K2 trainer but decided against it – the Ultrasonic is way cooler!

Before the start in Skanderborg(Photo Jørgen Brøgger)

Our start Saturday morning went bad as we found ourselves in the middle of the pack with the resulting chaotic wave systems. We struggled in vain to get any kind of rhythm going. Then after about 2 or 3 km we found flat water and started overtaking K2s. Don’t get me wrong – the strongest K2s were way out of our league and we never saw them again.

When we reached the 10km long lake Mossø we had a moderate wind in our back which build up quite a sea. We sorely missed the pump not to mention a better balance. A couple of times I feared we would go down as wave would pop my sprayskirt but we were lucky.

After having managed the lake the boat was heavily waterlogged but with no suitable place to get ashore we had to keep going. Finally we reach a small jetty and managed to get rid of the +40L of water.

During these hectic minutes we were overtaken by a couple of K2s. We got back into the kayak and in 10 minutes had caught up with the group. For the next 5 km we were a nice group taken turns pulling and drafting.

Sunday morning (Photo Esben Kjeldsen)

Now get this – one K2 was paddled by two middle aged men while the other was a mixed K2 with a couple of older paddlers at about the age as my parents. The man was using a flat wooden paddle while the lady didn’t look all too strong. I couldn’t help feeling a bit sorry for them and along with the other all-male K2 we did most of the pulling.

Now after the portage and break at Ry we were still a group but I expected the mixed K2 to fall back anytime. However to my amazement the mixed K2 kept drafting us while the other K2 had to let go!
Morten and I kept doing most of the pulling and I felt bad whenever we were drafting the old couple.
And then… 300m from the finishing line they took the lead and pulled away from us! We couldn’t catch them.

Getting back home I looked up their names. Turns out we were up against Fried de Raedt and his wife from Belgium. Fried participated in the Olympics in 1964, 1968 and 1976.

The race Sunday went pretty fine. We got a good start and found a group for the first 10km. With no lakes and waves our lack of K2 balance wasn’t much of a problem.

In the end we placed 6th in the K2 senior class way behind the first 4 kayaks. Still we got the TdG 2008 Marathon shirt for completing the race and that dear reader is what really counts!

Next up: In two weeks I’m responsible for the Danish Canoe Federation’s surf kayaking symposium.

Update: You’ll find a nice collection of photos from race here.