theflowofthings

France Photo Memories

Marissa — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 20:11:27 +0000

Taking in the view at the top of Chateau Roquefixade

Chateau de Foix viewed from the cobbled streets of the town below

Connor, Marissa, and Max at the top of Chateau de Foix

From left: Rachael, Jaz, AJ, Ali, Macx Below: Marissa

AJ and Max in the spiral staircase at Chateau de Foix

The beautiful country-side of southern France

Practicing my balance at Chateau Roquefixade

Junior Worlds Wrap-Up

Marissa — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:36:29 +0000

It seems that as fast as something begins, it’s over and all we can do is enjoy the ride.
My Junior Worlds experience this year was very satisfying and while I didn’t make my goal of being in the top 10, I did some very good racing under some not so favourable conditions.
The day before competition I lost my voice and found a cold. I was optimistic though that it would not last, my voice would come back and kick the cold out. The morning of qualifications came around and no such luck. I raced hard though and made it through to the semi finals. The next couple days were all about getting healthy and supporting my team mates. Jaz made it through to semis, Ali as well, unfortunately only Michael made it through for the boys.
Team races on Saturday were a whole different element. In team races 3 boats from the same category go down together most often doing “the weave”. Team races can get very exciting and often are the most popular for the spectators. Again unfortunately none of the Canadians made it through.
My voice was still not back for Sunday morning’s semi-finals. Despite this I felt that my head was in a good place and raced my hardest. I finished in 21st place which did not advance me to the finals that afternoon. Despite this I was happy with how I had performed. I think that losing my voice may have been good for me as it forced me to reflect upon myself and stay inside my own world in a very physical manner.
After the excitement of Junior Worlds, mom and I made our way to Toulouse for some shopping. On the list: crepe pan, cook books, wine
Now I am going to focus my energies on getting well rowing. The countdown until Henley and Nationals is on. See you back in Canada!

Team run

The winding streets of Toulouse

So it Begins

Marissa — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 19:30:55 +0000

With a couple of weeks of solid training under my belt, I’m going into Junior Worlds feeling confident. Today we participated in the opening ceremonies. We marched around the main square in Foix in a parade of nations and afterwards shared cocktails with the mayor of Foix. These opening ceremonies were very unlike last Worlds’ in Roudnice. This year the weather was about 30 degrees warmer and the moister felt was not due to precipitation. The whole city came down to watch, it was wonderful.

Racing starts tomorrow with qualifications for C2s and K1W.
Here is a schedule of events for those that want to follow along with the live results and video:

Thursday- Qualifications for C2 and K1W
Friday- Qualifications for C1W, C1, K1
Saturday- Semis for teams (all), finals for teams
Sunday- Semis for all. finals for all

Good luck to everyone!

Marching in the parade

Team Canada

Ottawa Pre-Worlds Training Camp

Marissa — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 11:03:58 +0000

We just finished up our pre-worlds training camp in Ottawa. While it was good training the week had a couple surprises for us. Congratulations to James and Katie for their new baby girl, Cierra. Understandably, James resigned from coaching the rest of the camp to be with his family. But with the arrival of Marian we started training again the next day. We were able to drive to Valley-Field for some race simulation as we were told that it is similar to Foix. More complications as an earthquake rocked through Ottawa. The Pumphouse got shut off and for the last day of the camp we were forced to paddle flatwater. This turned out to not be such a horrible thing as I brought my camera and captured some unique angles of the Parliament buildings. We were also able to do a race simulation at the Pumphouse held simultaneously with one of their local races. Results can be found here.

We left for France on Saturday evening and arrived in Toulouse Sunday morning. The difference was a little weird; it was as if we lost a whole night’s sleep. By following Mike’s rule of no naps I think that I’ll be back on track in no time. The course in Foix is very cool. The water is fast and there are many waves and eddies all the way down. We will race in 2 weeks. For more information on the schedule of events and also to view live results and video please visit the race website.

Thank you to the McGee family who put me up for the week in Ottawa!

Parliament from the water

Junior kayak women: Jaz, Rachael, Marissa in front of the Parliament buildings in Ottawa, ON

Western Sprint Champs

Marissa — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 02:13:22 +0000

This Saturday I participated in my first ever regatta race. I left the Calgary airport with the rest of the juniors on Friday night, sat through the shortest flight of my life and got ready for an early morning. The 6 am wake-up turned out to be not too bad and I found myself reminiscing of the good old swim meet days. We had raced our first event by 9 o’clock. Afton and I were paddling a double. For it being our first time ever in a double together (Afton’s second time ever in that kind of boat) and my first time bowing we did very well.
I found myself racing in the novice men’s quad next with James, Alex, and Ian. We got to our start really early and got to watch the other boats struggle into position. The Edmonton boat in the lane next to us was the next in place. As I watched them maneuver into place, I leaned forward to Ian and said, “I wonder if they realize they are backwards. I feel kind of bad if they don’t. ” Ian looked over, laughed and said, “no probably not but, let’s just see what happens. They did eventually end up turning themselves around as it would have been even more of a pain to back their way down the 1000m course. The starter said, “Ready,” and, “Row!” We got a clean start and Alex set a good, strong pace. We were feeling strong and out of the corner of my eye I could see the quad in lane one bow to bow with us. James called a hard port to keep us straight and in our lane and we picked up the pace again, powering our way to the finish. We came across the line first, high fives all around. We were told that our team didn’t count; we were an exhibition team because I was a girl competing to fill in my team’s boat in the junior novice boy’s category. We were still awarded medals and just knowing that we came across the line fourteen seconds before the next team.
My next event was the women’s quad with Ashley, Lisa, and Nicole. We were solid all the way through and won our event as well.
Calgary had an awesome regatta. All the juniors won at least one of their events some two or three.
This was the first regatta of the season for us since the Leduc Freeze or Fry was canceled due to some weather issues. But since when does it snow at the end of May!
My next regatta is in August: the Royal Canadian Henley in St. Catharine’s Ontario.

Afton and Marissa in the double

International Certificate

Marissa — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 21:31:44 +0000

Yesterday I had the privilege of attending the International Certificate awards ceremony. The International Certificate is an award that student in the Calgary Board of Education can do to be recognized for their international work. It has three different requirements: a minimum of one second language, international course work including social studies, and international travel or international volunteering.
I thought that this certificate was a perfect fit for me, having done French immersion, traveled all over the world, volunteered and having an interest in international subjects.
I was able to share my Africa experience with my fellow students, teachers, parents, and special guests in attendance as well. It was very cool to hear about other students’ experiences in their international certificate journey and to share mine as well.
I was also very surprised to see one of my childhood friends in attendance. We went to grade school together and it was great to see that he had such an interest in international pursuits.

I am now buckling down for my last two weeks of high school. It’s been difficult to organize my schedule to fit everything in from school, to training, to the ever important food and sleep that will keep me going. I will be very glad once I can finally enjoy summer. The real summer, not the snow that we have still been experiencing here in Calgary!

Giving my Kenya experience speech

Receiving the award

A young Marissa and Brendan

Marissa and Brendan

Junior Team Trials- Mamquam Edition

Marissa — Fri, 28 May 2010 03:58:38 +0000

Another Junior Team Trials has come and gone in the blink of an eye. This year we got to paddle in B.C at the Mamquam River near Squamish. With our home base in Whistler we drove out to the course everyday with Felix, Mike’s brother in law from Germany as our bear magnet. By Wednesday I think our bear count was up to 5 or 6. That morning the water was off in Rutherford so Jessica joined us for a fulls session. We were sitting up in the start eddy waiting for the go ahead from Mike when he comes booking it up the trail, “Guys, there’s a bear on river right so make sure you paddle up on the other side of the river, okay?” We all just nodded our heads. I was paddling C1 that morning so I waited for Jessica to go and then took a few deep breaths before my full length. I got to the bottom, out of my boat and was walking up before I remembered the bear. I looked across the river and whoah, bear! There was this huge black shadow chilling on a rock. I quickly switched into my K1 kit and ran back up to the top to do another run. More deep breathing and waiting for a signal when Mike runs back up to us. “So…. (classic Mike pause with smile) the bear actually swam across the river and is now at the take out. Marbar, just don another K1 run, don’t go up and change.” I finish my run and am catching my breath in the bottom eddy when I hear shouting and thunderous footsteps on the trail above. The bear is running down the trail, one giant gazelle like leap and it’s gone, disappeared into the greenery of the rainforest woods.

Watching video review that night was as interesting as paddling that day. Every once in a while we’d get a clip where the bear would be perched on the rock, head propped up on giant paws watching us paddle down the river. In between paddling clips we’d also see just bear video, bear lying on rock, bear swimming across the river, bear chowing down on cookies, bear standing against the van. Thank goodness for Felix, our amazing video man.

The water kept rising all week so eddies that had existed on Monday were totally gone by Saturday. We had three different courses, 2 runs on the first course and then one run on the second and one run on the third. We had to make percentage off the top boat at least once and then the top three boats in each category with the average percentage of their three best races made the team. I had a very consistent weekend, making percentage in my kayak everyday. In C1, I felt myself steadily improving with each race run. I missed percentage on the first day by 2 percent and then never got it back again. I finished in 2nd overall in C1 and 2nd overall in kayak. Unfortunately Canada won’t be sending any C1s to France as the boys barely missed the percentage. The Junior Team going to Jr Worlds in France this year is: In kayak: Michael Taylor (ON), Max-Emile Petitclerc (QC), and AJ Cole (AB), in women’s kayak: Jazmyne Denhollander (BC), Marissa Dederer (AB), and Rachael Penman (ON) and in women’s C1: Alexandra Mcgee (ON) , who will be Canada’s first C1W to go to the Junior Worlds. I’m really looking forward to competing at Junior Worlds in France this summer and to spending time training with this great team that Canada is sending to represent itself.

Also congratulations to Alberta’s Hayden Daniels and Levi Severtson who qualified to represent Canada at this year’s Youth Olympics in Signapore this summer, kill it boys!

Big thanks to all the volunteers and judges who made this race possible.
Now we shift our focus to the Senior National Team Trials taking place at Rutherford next weekend.

Full results for the Junior National Team Trials in Mamquam B.C

Aproaching gate 9 with coach watching Photo credit: Joanne Cole

From left to right: Max, AJ, Michael, Marissa, Ali, Rachael, Marian (missing: Jaz)

Here is a video that I put together from training and racing video at Mamquam. Enjoy!

The Final Countdown

Marissa — Sun, 09 May 2010 04:51:44 +0000

It’s May 1st and there is still snow on the ground. We decide not to brave the weather and instead re-enter the dungeon (a.k.a Mike’s garage). We do our lactic and MAP sessions on the erg in our t-shirts and shorts while Mike is bundled up in his down jacket, toque and scarf.

We are only a week out of national team trials now and felt it was a little ridiculous to be paddled on an erg instead of out on the water. No matter what the weather is like next weekend in B.C, we will be racing. So we braved the falling snow and cold weather winds to paddle at the Meadows. It was chilly, but worth it to be on the water. Now it really is the final countdown until Trials. We are on the trek over to Whistler, a 14 hour drive in the big white Alberta van. I’m looking forward to paddling a new river and racing not only k1 but c1 as well.

Mike's garage (a.k.a the dungeon)

Hammering it out on the erg

Enduring the elements for a paddle

Penguin Race

Marissa — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 17:26:08 +0000

A threatening line of thunder clouds looms closer and closer to the Meadows on the Bow River in South Calgary. Kids and adults alike are bundled against the elements and some have even chosen to done a Penguin costume.

It is the 2nd annual Penguin Race put on by the Waterwerks Kayak Club. Over 50 kids from cub-cadet to senior have shown up to race against the clock for a coveted spot on the event’s wooden penguin mascot. Alberta High Performance coach, Michael Holroyd has set a difficult 16 gate course on the slow moving currents of the Meadows. The shore is full of parents cheering on the paddlers as they fight their way down the course to the finish.

“That was a lot harder than I thought,” says top ranked Canadian Jessica Groeneveld about the offset course. AJ Cole agrees, “My arms were burning!”

Young paddlers like Molly Severtson are having a great time navigating the twisting gates and newcomer Ashley Vrielink paddles the gates with confidence while other newcomer Francis Levesque decides to take the “Penguin Race” to heart and takes a couple chilly dips in the Bow River. “It’s really not that cold,” he says.

With paddlers competing in all 3 classes of whitewater slalom (K1, C1, C2) the event is successful in promoting full participation in a wild and exciting sport.

Beginner paddlers start on the flatwater of the Meadows and eventually progress to wilder rapids such as the Kananaskis once they have perfected their technique.

The race is done by noon and the paddlers file up to the parking lot where pots full of chilli prepared by generous parents and hot drinks wait to be engulfed. Awards are soon to follow and Penguin themed prizes are picked by excited youth.

The conclusion to a perfect spring starter race is followed not 10 minutes by the clouds breaking and a sky full of snow and rain falling down on Calgary.

Thanks to all the parents and volunteers who made this race such a success!

Full results can be found here.

Paddling down the course in my penguin mask

All the athletes who participated in the 2nd annual Penguin Race

North Carolina: The Land of Tornadoes, Sweet Tea, and Big Whitewater

Marissa — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 14:42:59 +0000

North Carolina is the place to be in April. I certainly have lucked out this year with training camps. After being forced off the water mid-November due to ugly weather we commenced the bulk of our dryland training. Workouts in the gym, in the dungeon a.k.a Mike’s beautiful garage. Around Christmas we embraced the snow with our annual winter camp in the Bow Valley. I then took a min-break from training to go on my first family holiday since I started kayaking, Cuba. In the brutish cold weeks of winter I was in Australia and for the brief couple of weeks that I was home in March the weather was uncharacteristically warm and we were able to paddle and enjoy the outdoors, minus the white stuff. It was weird to be able to go for a run around Glenmore reservoir in nothing more than shorts and a t-shirt. Now, while it is continuing to snow in a wintry fashion at home, we’re living it up in balmy charlotte, N.C. We’re down here for an ICF ranking race to get point for our nation to compete in international races such as world cups and world championships.

Graham and I arrived in Charlotte to discover that Star Alliance airlines United and US Airways had not cooperated enough to get our bags onto the planes we were on. It was pretty hard to train with no running shoes, clothing or boats. Luckily, or unluckily, Charlotte was not running water in an attempt to change one of the drops, bridge drop. Graham and I got our luggage the next day but our boats still had not arrived. After some detective work, we discovered that our boats had actually been on the same flight as our luggage. The boats were behind some nets- an area which apparently doesn’t get checked all too often. I think my boat has seen more of the US of A than I have. At the end of the second day, we had boats and were ready to depart for Bryson City and the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC). As we were driving along the freeway we hear a snap and then the glass of the back windshield shatters blowing bits of windshield all the way up to the front and into Mike and Paul’s laps. Some good did come out of the mysterious strap snapping incident, we got a way bigger vehicle. The increased leg room on the way to Nantahala I will admit was very much appreciated.

The 3 hour drive to NOC took us a little long than expected. Thankfully we did arrive in enough time to get a session in on the course. NOC in a nutshell: rocks, mini waves, rocks, big-ish drop, rocks, and very, very cold water. After our session Jessica paddles over to me and says, “What a terrible, terrible place.” Then she smiles, “At least we have a hot tub.”

Mike really scored on our accommodation: log cabin on the top of a hill-billie hillside. After crossing over 17 bridges and experiencing the “local flavours” such as the tiny white church and greetings over shotguns shouted from porches you climb up the side of the hill driving the switchbacks. Finally you arrive to a drive-way that takes you to the Falling Waters cabin. Fully equipped kitchen, washer, dryer, fireplace, clean, comfy beds, and hot tub greet you with tunes similar to Beauty and the Beast’s “Be Our Guest”.

We raced Saturday and Sunday on some pretty tough courses. Canada had a strong showing with teams from Ontario and Alberta racing. Congratulations to those who raced and thank you to the volunteers who ran a very smooth race. Full results can be found here: Saturday Sunday Overall

Photo Credit: Pam Hurd

Immediately after the awards ceremony in NOC, we drove back to Charlotte to pick Matt up at the airport and settle into our new accommodation for the week at the Studio 6. As we approached the airport, the sky grew darker and darker and the winds started to tug on the boats atop the roof. We make it back to the motel and as I’m flipping through the channels on the TV I come across the weather station. Curious about our sun potential the next couple days I stay on. The news anchor is busy babbling on about some storm watch. I think, “whatever, it’s not close to us, tornadoes are overrated anyways.” As I look closer on the screen at the swirling greens and reds I realize that it is a map of North Carolina, and… oh shit… Mecklenburg County. The wind started picking up outside and I could hear it whistling through the cracks of the building. The torrential downpour starts and I get a little freaked out so I call over to Mike and Paul’s room. I’m told to “chill out” since it’s “just a storm”. I sit back on the bed and watch as the purple clouds continue to gather in the sky. The news anchor tells me that the tornado warning is over for the Mecklenburg County but that now we are in a storm watch. Cue thunder and lighting. The TV is showing clips now of the damage that the winds of over 70 m/h caused; eves torn down, trees snapped in half, signs blow off buildings. The thunder and lighting are happening in closer succession now, not 5 even five seconds apart. The room lights up and KABOOM! the ground shakes around me as the building rattles in the aftermath. The fire alarm goes off. With a sigh I climb out of bed grab my rain jacket and head outside with the rest of the Studio 6 visitors. The fire and EMS show up and we wait for the say so to go back inside. It was a night for the books, most memorable alarm at the 6 ever.

We trained all week at the Charlotte whitewater course, enjoying temperatures in the mid 20s all week; I could feel my tan making a comeback after Australia. After getting my butt worked for 3 sessions, I finally got a hang of the strange whitewater again. They should have t-shirts for you as you leave the course with “I survived Charlotte”. My boat is still in one piece and I only really had one serious working in the middle pool. The course changed a bit since we were there a couple years ago. They poured cement into bridge drop to change things up a little bit which resulted in an uphill paddle to get down the course with a pretty significant gradient.

We raced the Charlotte Open on Friday and Saturday. I was pleased with a couple of my runs but couldn’t really get a fast run together. I did have 2 totally clean runs this weekend which I am happy with. Full results for the weekend can be found here.

Photo Credit: Pam Hurd

Now we are into the final stretch before national team trials in May, junior on the Mamquam near Squamish and senior on Rutherford Creek. We have a month at home now to settle in before we leave for B.C at the beginning of May. It was so nice to see all the paddling crew again! Happy Easter!