Arnd Schaeftlein's I Can Claim That Italy Tour-Part 3
Day 7
Race day on the Egua. With water levels still good, everyone is fired up for the Extreme Individual and Team Kayak Races. First…team race.
The team race consists of 3 kayakers for a specific country, which have to get down the racecourse the fastest. The idea here is to mimic river running with a couple of friends. The groups have to stay within sight of each other and the finishing time is posted when the slowest member crosses the finish line. 15 teams compete- Italy 1st, Germany 2nd, USA placed 3rd.
After the team race was complete, it was time for the individual race. Same racecourse it lines, but 50 men and 10 women competing. The heat is on!
Day 8
Race day on the Sorba. Today’s kayaking events included the Extreme Slalom, and the Individual Sprint Race.
The Extreme Slalom course would be on the Sorba, right below the confluence with the Gronda in Rassa. The same 50 men and 10 women would be competing in the event. At the Teva Extreme Games, there is an only prize for the winner over all-5 races total.
With tough gates and disqualifications, the results differed greatly from the previous day. Many got stuck paddling upstream to gate 4 and numerous top contenders didn’t get close enough to the gates.
Shortly after the Extreme Slalom, it was time for the individual sprint race, which was originally planned on the Gronda. After several competitors complained that the water level was too low, the event organizers switch the sprint race to the Sorba, going through the same section as the slalom, but adding a little to the top. Many were disappointed, but better safe than sorry.
After a hot day, both on and off the river, it was the evening we had all been waiting for. The kayak dinner (with free wine) and the infamous Teva party in Piode at the best discotech in 100km, which is quite ironic, since we were basically in the middle of nowhere.
Lets just say the dinner and party were everything expected, some of the crew even woke up in the discotech at 5AM a bit disoriented and had troubles finding the car outside-to sleep off the rest of their drunkenness.
Day 9
The final race day-boatercross! Those who were serious about competing may have puffed their feathers the night before about drinking heavily, but all showed up well rested on Sunday morning. With all 5 races being of equal value and having the option to drop your lowest score, the heat was on for 1st place and 2 of the competitors were in the same heat-Pat Keller and Michele from Italy. With a little help from some fellow racers Pat made it thourgh the first round anyway.
To get the finals, one would have to compete in 3 races, the 4th being the finals. The top 2 races of each heat would move on to the next round. It started out with 32 races and ended with 4.
Day 10
Today we were greeted with rain, which got us out of bed early and started to make plans to run the Devil’s Slide or Sean Baker Rapid . With reports that Raphael Thiebaut successfully ran the drop the day before our hopes were high.
We had scouted this series of 3 rapids on the Sorba early in the week, but the water levels were too high, and completely unburnable. Luck for us, today’s water levels were perfect, about half of before.
It would be Pat Keller, John Grace, and Jacobus Stengliens that would attempt to run the rapids. We made it!
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