World Cup 2 – Pigeon River – Mens Prelims

Straight after the Rock Island we were straightaway on the road for 3 hours to Pigeon river, the site of the 2nd event in this years World Cup.

The hole, built by hand is actually one of the best features I’ve paddled in.

Wit only one day before the event started there wasn’t supposed to be any water, but a surprise afternoon release meant that we were able to practice. I managed 1 ride, liked the hole, it seemed very straightforward so got off so I didn’t strain my collarbone too much.

Yesterday was the first day of competition here, with the Men’s Prelims. With such an easy feature rides were always going to be high.

Notably Dane Jackson scored a 1340 in his first ride and a 1000+ in his 2nd, looking likely that he’d be hard to beat, but then Peter Csonka winner of the first World Cup stepped up once again with a 1430 first ride and a 1158 second ride.

I was in one of the last heats to go and feeling better and better everyday really wanted to get good rides. I can’t push or pull very hard off my right side so just tried to keep smooth and easy so not to need much effort. I had a great first ride and similar second ride getting most of what I was aiming for.

Really really happy to feel a bit more myself and very pleased with how the new Dagger Jitsu play boat is performing for me.

In the end of the day I ended up 4th, Quim from Catalonia 3rd, Dane 2nd and Peter 1st. So another great showing from the Europeans with most of us getting through to the cut of top 20.

Looks set for an interesting battle over the coming days; I hope I can step up to battle with Dane, Quim and Peter…

Men’s Prelims Results below: -

Rank Name Country Run 1 Run 2 Final Score
1 Peter Csonka #161 SVK 1430 1158 2588
2 Dane Jackson #172 USA 1340 1136 2476
3 Joaquim Fontane #194 ESP 1006 936 1942
4 James Bebbington #74 GBR 940 870 1810
5 Nick Troutman #45 CAN 776 983 1759
6 Tomasz Czaplicki #191 POL 1023 653 1676
7 Martin Koll #7 DEU 803 870 1673
8 Bartosz Czauderna #190 POL 846 720 1566
9 Stephan Wright #157 USA 846 708 1554
10 Tomas Andrassy #167 SVK 790 686 1476
11 Michael Patterson #160 USA 703 713 1416
12 Clay Wright #169 USA 525 866 1391
13 Bryan Kirk #63 USA 560 686 1246
14 Abel Thevenet #2 FRA 766 451 1217
15 Eric Jackson #80 USA 670 536 1206
16 David Wild #189 GBR 640 560 1200
17 Kazuya Matsungaga #94 JPN 501 598 1099
18 Adam Chappell #193 CAN 363 716 1079
19 Marcel Bloder #33 AUT 505 526 1031
20 Craig Kleckner #187 USA 580 430 1010
21 Matt Anger #105 USA 521 486 1007
22 Thim Bernard #91 FRA 426 506 932
23 Thomas Dunphy #8 IRL 351 376 727
24 Andrey Pesterev #14 RUS 390 316 706

Women and Junior Men prelims are on today so will have more soon from the Pigeon

Pringle