Day one is done! It was a great for team Canada, and I was really happy with both my races. The morning was beautiful, a slight headwind and a perfect temperature for racing. I was pumped to get out and race, and even though there was no direct advancement to the final in C1, I wanted to get a good race under my belt to start the weekend off strong. I got a bit behind off the start, but stayed relaxed and just tried to feel good, and ended up slowly pulling ahead and winning my heat. Even that early in the morning I could hear the crowd cheering me on which was a great feeling. In the afternoon the crowd got even bigger and louder. In my 500 I took it easy the first 300, and then I heard the crowd start cheer, and it pumped me up so much that I took off the last 200 and won my heat again. It was an amazing feeling to have the crowd behind me, feeding off them and feeling like they cheered even louder the faster I went. If that is what the heats were like, I can't wait for the semis and finals, it's going to be awesome. Thanks to everyone who cheered, it really makes a huge difference, keep up the great work!
The rest of Team Canada had a great day as well. Adam v looked great winning his heats as always, very nice work. A HUGE shout out to the ladies K4 of Genevieve Orton, Emilie Fournel, Kristi Gauthier and Mylanie Barre, who advance directly to the final! Respect. These girls have worked hard a long time and it's great to see them get the results they deserve. Also on the Women's Kayak front, congrats to Victoria Tuttle and Jill D'Alessio who also advanced to the final in the K2 1000, very impressive ladies. I guess that means my dad is doing a pretty good job, so congrats to him as well. One last(but not least) shout out goes to Mark Hoogenraad and Graeme Lind, who have shown up driving the Official C4C Support Vehicle, professionally decaled with a picture of us and everything. It's good to know they'll be in the crowd leading the Canadian fans cheering us on.
That's all for now I guess, big day tomorrow, I'm looking forward to racing in front of this crowd again! Time for dinner, need to refill the tank, thanks for reading and keep your paddle in the water.