I ve just came byck from the first Eurocup this year and I must first of all say: Where the hell have all of you been?? There were only four C-1 paddlers on the competition. That is a shame!! But nevermind, it was a cool event none the less.
We arrived on Wednesday midnight and from the first moment it was obvious that the competition is once again going to be in a hole... oh my... and I ve been training wave moves all spring... nevermind...
On Thursday we wentsearching other playspots and we found two pretty nice ones: Ainetwelle and Dolomitenwelle. The ideal flow for the Ainet wave is 280 m3/sec and 260 m3/sec for the Dolomiten wave. The Dolomitenwelle is located under the last bridge in Lienz while Ainetwelle is in Ainet village 8km upstream from Lienz (turn left after a wood warehouse to the left of the road).
In Thursday evening there was a welcome party in restaurant Eck with a free meal for all... cool...
Friday was the pre-lims day... Since the canoist were this few there was to be only finals in C-1 category, shame, shame, shame. I went again to Ainet but the waterlevel was too low and the wave was breaking too much. So I went to the Dolomitenwelle. It looked awful from the bank but I went paddling all the same. But it was cool... High wave with a decent foam pile, a green right shoulder and an eddy... Air moves possible!! Only to the left though... So I was paddling for like two hours and then went back to the competition playspot.
In the evening there was an awesome party at the club Wha. The Czech team was more than visible and audible during the party... like always during the Eurocups...
On Saturday there was the men´s quarterfinals and semis. The judges were a bit incompetent, from my point of view, since they seemed to patronize the Adidas team, but the judges changed for the semis and everything was all right... But still, to constantly judge an aerial fisherking entrymove as a bare wavewheel is more than strange. The party in the evening was again awesome and it included a huge meal for everybody. But the prizegiving was a disgrace all over.... It was done in a tiny hall in the pub. The promised prizemoney was given to the first ones in every category but the prizes for everybody else somehow "disappeared" but who am I to judge the organizers... The second and third places were told that the first place should buy them a drink and this was supposed to be a prize... well this stinks...but nevermind...
It was a nice event and although it had its problems I enjoyed it...
Photos are here...
The results:
C1
- Nico Fayol (France)
- Lukas Cervinka (CZ)
- Me (CZ)
- Martina Wegmann (Netherlands)
- Hanka Vackova (CZ)
- Jiri Langer (CZ)
- Jon Best (UK)
- Seppi Strohmeier (GER)
- Simon Strohmeier (GER)
So long, and see you on the water...
4 comments:
Hey,
I'm interested to know what has made you think the judges were incompetent and 'patronized' the adidas team?
Thanks,
Hi there,
I ve judged quite a few competitions myself (five last year and one this year) and I think I can tell if the moves are done correctly. During the quarterfinals I watched the scores and I spotted quite a few results that were absolutely not according the moves the paddler performed... Just an example: I remember the ride of that Slovenian guy on a Project 45 who did AT LEAST fisherking entrymove (80 points) airloop (100 points) a series of cartwheels to both sides (should have been awarded both cartwheel and flatspin left and right - 80 points) he also did a splitwheel but it wasn t probably vertical and some cleans, which the judges might have missed (I know I miss them frequently). This guy got a score like 160 or 190 points, if I remember it correctly... and after him there was a guy on adidas-full Project 52 (might have been Casper, I don´t remember) and he had a bad ride and got 250 points... apparently getting a Tricky Woo out of an attempt really not worth the points...
I am sorry if I offended you (you were the head judge, weren´t you?) but this is how I felt about some of the rides during the men quarterfinals and I wasn´t the only one...
But I have to say that this opinion of mine is based on the score that appeared on the screen right after rides, and I remember seeing some of the scores different in the scorelist than on the screen... So this might have confused me...
As I said: I had that feeling only in the quarterfinals and the semis I thought were all right from that point of view. It just really gets on my nerves if I see a guy who doesn´t get the points he deserves.
Sorry again to have offended you, but that´s how I felt about it.
Z.
Hey again,
Thanks for the response.
It's ok, I'm not offended. I appreciate your point of view. However, I do get frustrated when after an event I hear/read various things. It's easy to pass judgement and says things when not face-to-face with the people in question. This is not to dismiss what you are saying, but I believe it would be more beneficial to express your views at the time, not on a blog afterwards.
In the past, I have seen some terrible things written about people, completely unjustified, and quite frankly it is cowardly, I doubt a person would say the same things when the person is standing right in front of them.
Speaking up at an event would help the judges more, after all, people do make mistakes, we're only human. If you think there's a problem that's not been noticed, speak up, it would help everyone involved, especially the paddler.
I agree, there were a few problems in the prelims, which I think were sorted by the quarters. However, I very much doubt there was a bias towards Adidas paddlers, I couldn't even tell you who they are! I'm sorry that you feel this way. Also, we had a few issues with the computer, so I think there was some mismatches between the final scores and the scores first shown.
I often hear comments about scores not matching what the paddler thought they had done or what the spectator thought. However, what I think people forget is that, when they are watching they are viewing the feature from a different angle than the judges and therefore may see things differently. It is important to remember that, even if the score is 'harsh', it is the same for everyone.
I was not head judge, I just judged the men's and the finals. I am always willing to hear other people's views. I too do not like to think of paddlers not getting what they deserve. I always try to ensure fair play and the best for the paddlers. I hope that in future, paddlers will be more inclined to speak up at the events, and I hope that people know I am always open to discussing theses types of things. If anyone ever has any views or ideas that will help for the future, then that is great!
Again, thank you for your response, I value your opinion and hope what I have said has been of some help to you also.
Many thanks
Emily
Hey,
I perfectly understand what you mean... As I said I ve been a judge quite a few times myself and I know what the usual problems with judging are.
The main problem I know I ve been a victim of is the reputation factor.
It is that some paddlers are KNOWN to rock and KNOWN to have been doing the moves perfectly for years and that is why a judge tends not to attempt to find any mistakes. On the other hand if they see a guy who is NOT known to do the moves right the situation is that the judges try to find the mistakes... Again I know I ve done that a few times... But nevermind... my words about the Lienz competition might have been too harsh but that is what I felt and I was not the only one...
But lets quit this subject..
BTW Are you that blond chick from Britain on a pink Star? If you are I got an awesome photo of you from Lyon... Write your email here and I ll send it to you...
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