I’m super stoked about taking my first AWP World Series Title for 2013! The AWP World Series is the World Cup of Extreme Kayak Racing, a series of 6 events (3 in Europe and 3 in north America) that determine the overall winner at the end of the season. The AWP World Series have been put together for the last few years to create a world cup racing circuit with the best events in the world and try to promote kayaking and extreme racing. It’s really cool to see so many fast paddlers on all the events and it creates great competition. I think the future of this side of the sport is really interesting and has some great potential.
The events for 2013 were:
Europe
– Outdoor Mix Festival in France
– EkstremeSports Veko in Voss, Norway
– Adidas Sick-Line in Oetz, Austria
USA
– The Little White race, Washington
– The North Fork Championship, Idaho
– The Green race, Hendersonville, NC
Right before the last event (the green race) Eric Deguil, Sam Sutton and myself we tied for first place what meant that the Green race would be the tie breaker and determine the 2013 World Cup Champion. I was feeling quite a bit of pressure, the race is really big (over 100 competitors) and it’s the most important race in north america. Being at it’s 18th edition they’ve been going for almost 20 years!
The race wasn’t great for me and I didn’t get to paddle well on race day however I managed to come ahead of frenchman Eric Deguil what gave me the overall World Cup victory.
I was really happy about it and however I started the year just getting back from an injury in February I’m just amazed at how much good white water surrounded by great friends I’ve paddled this year. I want to thank all my friends who’ve helped me out borrowing gear, offering shelter and going paddling with me. It’s been an awesome season and I’m looking forward to 2014. Thank y’all!
More here: https://www.facebook.com/AWPworldseries
Pics by: Jacob Boling, Mike Leeds, Alícia Casas, Tait Trautman, Heather Herbeck