Olympic Whitewater Trials this weekend on MSNBC

We've just finished production work on the Olympic Whitewater Trials. Please tune into the broadcast airing this Sunday, May 11th on MSNBC at 12 noon eastern time. We had a great time calling this race and working with play-by-play broadcaster Craig Hummer was fabulous. Not only is he excited to be a part of the whitewater events in Beijing this summer, but Craig joined me for a kayak lesson on the Kern River today in Kernville, California. More about our kayak outing coming next week.

Also, please check out some excellent photo galleries from the Olympic Trials in Charlotte shot by our good friend, Bob Hollifield:

http://colemanroadproductions.smugmug.com/

The Last Word On Trials....

Although the Olympic Whitewater Slalom Trials concluded a week ago, I've been slow to recover from an emotionally draining weekend in Charlotte. Back at home in Tennessee, a few runs down the Ocoee River and a few mountain bike rides with friends have helped to re-energize me but I hadn't quite found the right way to resolve my own participation at the Trials - as a coach, spectator, and as part of the media.

For me, when it comes to the last word about anything whitewater paddling, it begins and ends with Jamie McEwan. Known in whitewater cirlces as the "living legend," Jamie won America's first-ever Olympic medal in whitewater slalom at the 1972 Olympics in Munich. Equally impressive, he competed and competed well at the 2008 Olympic Trials in Charlotte at the age of 55.

In a weekend of huge emotional ups and down, nobody offered more stability and good in the world of whitewater racing than Jamie. Competing with vigor, passion, and respect, his participation continues to set the standard of what it means to be an Olympian in Whitewater Slalom racing. Check out Jamie's essay about his Olympic Trials experience.

http://jamiemcewan.com/unpublished.html

Well done, Jamie.

Quick Update from Trials....

After an intense first two days of racing here at the Olympic Trials at the U.S. National Whitewater Center, all categories are up for grabs heading into the third and final day. A few things we do know:

- By virtue of good results on Saturday, the U.S. will field a full whitewater team at the Olympic Games in Beijing.

- The event has turned out large crowds each day - estimated Saturday crowd was 5,000 spectators.

- As the photo suggests, EJ is having a lot of fun.

Full results are available at:

http://animastiming.com/2008-olympic-slalom-results

Stay tuned....

The Source of a River

It’s not uncommon for kayakers to ponder about the source of the river they’re paddling on a given day. Such thinking contributes to the humility and appreciation of an activity like kayaking. Here at the U.S. National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, site of this year’s U.S. Olympic Trials for Whitewater Slalom, the venue is more of a symbol of where the sport is heading more than where it’s been. Having said that, the concept of powerful whitewater rapids in Charlotte where a river never existed before is increasingly becoming a more important part of kayaking’s evolving history.

Back in 2000, two visionaries from Charlotte, Vic Howie and Chet Rabon, attended the Olympic Whitewater Trials on Tennessee’s Ocoee River, site of the 1996 Olympic Whitewater events. Watching the competition on this modified natural river, Vic and Chet kept asking themselves, “Why can’t we do this in Charlotte?” Back in my living room that evening, a bottle of wine, a drawing on a cocktail napkin, and some spirited conversation and brainstorming lifted the concept of the “Charlotte Whitewater Park” up off the ground.

Of course it went further than that. Upon returning to Charlotte, they knocked on doors, introduced themselves and their idea, and shared their vision with anyone who would listen – they knew that openly and honestly engaging people and building alliances would be the only way to gain the public trust needed to complete such a project in Charlotte.

Much has transpired over the past eight years but one of Vic and Chet’s major milestones is about to happen this weekend. The Olympic Trials will be contested here in Charlotte on this venue – a venue that was conceived at one of the great American institutions of sport for “dreaming big,” the Olympic Trials. So with that, U.S. Whitewater athletes take their next step towards Beijing this weekend. And if any of the paddlers here stop for a moment to acknowledge the source of this river, they won’t have to wonder where the source starts – they can just hop out of their boats, shake hands with them and say thanks. I know I will.