1st annual Kalamalka Classic
Seeing that the summer has not exactly hit Squamish yet, Norm and I loaded up the car with some boards on Friday and took off to Vernon for the weekend. Apparently our timing couldn't have been better as we arrived to the hot and sunny interior on their first day of "good weather" as well. We stayed up on Silver Star Mountain with friends Sheila and Mike and enjoyed the quiet mountain resort this time of year.
Kevin and Michelle from OKSUP were hosting the 1st SUP Kalamalka Classic weekend of SUPing. Although a small crowd, the sport is definetly growing and paddlers from around BC and WA made the trip to Vernon to take part. Things got underway Saturday morning with the Kaloya Crossover - a 5km sprint race that had a 200m board carry through a park at the 3km mark. Good times despite not having a race board. As we've learned with this sport, equipment is everything. All boards have their purpose - some are good cruisers, other better for expeditions and then there is the fast and sleek race boards. Vow to self - get a race board!! Lina took first place and I grabbed 2nd. Cool with me, I've hardly been paddling and was really lacking paddling fitness. It was a great high intensity hammer fest. I hit the lake after for a water run/swim before we enjoyed an evening BBQ with all the other racers.
I awoke Sunday morning with a super sore upper back. Hmmmm, I wonder why. We geared up for the 10mile downwinder, a longer race from one end of Kalamalka to the other. No wind was to be found on race day so this ended up being a 2hr20min ish grind! Can't complain though, at least there was no headwind. I worked hard for the entire time to move my "tanker" through the water. It was great training and I arrived once again at the finish in 2nd place with an exhausted core and upper body. Norm also finished 2nd in both races, loosing to Bo from WA who races 24/7 and has an incredibly slick race board.
Great weekend. Got a tan. Got to SUP with some intensity and paddle a new lake. Met lots of great people. Feel super motivated to get training again on my board and hit a few more races this year.
