Bon Voyage!

Lake Life

Olympians, 

We are bidding farewell to Vermont, but snuck in one last event this week on the one, the only, Lake Champlain!

Just Finished: Canoeing/Kayaking III: K-2 500m

The summer solstice brings to mind never-ending rays and bright skies aplenty. Not so on Burlington's waterfront this year! Five daring paddlers slid off the dock just as a storm was sliding off the east slopes of the Adirondacks and coming across Lake Champlain. It was a three hours race, well sort of. Two teams of tandem kayakers faced off with Max Licker going solo in a whitewater craft. Off the dock, it was the Yellow Vests (Kelly Richard and C) striking forward to lead while some dragon boat traffic ruined any chances of our boats keeping a straight trajectory to the finish. The Blue Vests (Gustave and Katrina Sexauer) trailed until passing the public dock which served as a secondary breakwater. The swells then surged to 1-2 feet in magnitude, and the Yellow Vests fell to the back with Licker out front. The teams tentatively rowed past a sailing class plying a figure 8 course across our race course, and then the Blue Vests made their move to the front of the pack. As the wind whipped up on the port side of the kayaks, the winning technique became to paddle 90% on the left, and the rest on the right. Everyone gave it their all and passed the dolphin piling marking the finish, anxiously awaiting their finish times. For better or for worse, there were no clocks used in the making of this event, and we can only assume we came in at 2:02, 2:03, and 2:04, just beating Tunisia's time of 2:05 in the Tokyo games.

Winner Interview

OO: What where you thinking about as you raced to the finish?

K Sexauer: How Gustave said this turned into canoeing because we were only paddling on one side.

G Sexauer: Just grunting to get the most power out of my left arm, as that was the only way we could move!

OO: What's going to be your victory dinner?

K: We don't really have any food...

G: Ice cream!

OO: What was your favorite event from the past year?

G: Biathlon

K: This one!

What's Next?

We'll be moving back to the state of the five Cs, but will monthly events come back to Arizona? You bet your boots! Stay tuned.

A Recap of Our Games in Vermont (and elsewhere since June 2019)

Athletics XII: 800m, Burlington, VT Winner: Gustave Sexauer

Athletics XIII: 5000m II, Anywhere Winner: Dan Nigon-Kirgis

Chess II: Individual II, Anywhere Winner: Jason Mintz

Croquet III: Doubles, Burlington, VT Winners: Anne Rosenblum and Jason Mintz

Figure Skating I: Singles I, Anywhere Winner: Katrina Sexauer

Karate I: Kata, Anywhere, Winner: Stasa Arnold

Cycling V: Cross-country Mountain Biking, La Crosse, WI Winner: David Nigon

Croquet IV: Singles One Ball II, La Crosse, WI Winner: Greg Nigon

Skateboarding I: Street, Williston, VT Winner: Luke Yarnall

Sailing I: 420, Burlington, VT Winners: Gustave Sexauer and Sivan Cotel

Basketball II: 3x3, Burlington, VT Winners: Alex Cobb, Ben Rodgers, Gustave Sexauer, Pratt Olson

Table Tennis IV: Team, Burlington VT Winners: Aza, C, Carter, Emma, Gustave Sexauer, Kelly Richards, Luna Shen, Neil Smith

Surfing I: Individual, Pacific Ocean Winner: Luke Yarnall

Cross-country Skiing I: Individual Classic Sprint (1.5km), Burlington, VT Winner: Kelly Richards

Biathlon Demonstration Event, Jericho, VT Winner: Kelly Richards

Figure Skating II: Ice Dancing, Burlington, VT Winners: Leila and Maya

Canoeing/Kayaing III: K-2 500m, Burlington, VT Winners: Gustave and Katrina Sexauer 

Our Olympics

-Gustave

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Figure Skating I: Singles

Image
Olympians, I'm trying something new: blog updates for Our Olympic events. If you have any feedback on this format for updates, let me know. The site is currently in a state of flux as Google is discontinuing the old "Sites" and forcing a move over to the new Google Sites which means that every page will have to be reformatted. The site will be revamped when I can throw more time at it. But without further ado: RECAP - FIGURE SKATING I: SINGLES I t was one of the most technical and ambitious events we have ever attempted. Guided by our resident expert figure skater and eventual event judge, Raphaëlle Siemers, the format was laid out for a figure skating event filled with tricks attainable by even beginner skaters. But c'mon, a waltz jump!? By the end of February, six athletes had braved the cold, icy flatness and sent in their videos from wherever they could find ice time. Just days ago, the short and long routines were brought before the Honorable Judge Siemers as
Read more

Going It Alone

Image
  1st Place, unopposed Olympians, I recently signed up for a Nordic ski race and wasn't able to rouse any of Our friends to make the drive to compete in Flagstaff, but was determined to enter the race solo. As I went to retrieve my registration packet I announced that I was in the 10km classic race and got the reply, "You must be Gustave! You're the only one in that division." Racing at Nordic Village got me thinking about the future of Our Olympics, and the struggle it is for anyone, myself included, to agree to try something new or to even have the free time to do it. Our Games have periodically struggled with attendance, but after joining a race organized by an outside organization and finding myself alone in my division, it's clear that Our Olympics is no worse off than larger and more established sporting groups. We will continue in the quest to see our athletes compete in every Olympic event, because any periods of struggle are worth pushing through for tho
Read more

Move Busted

Image
  Freezin' the Breeze Olympians,   It's been a while since our last update, so here comes a big one! Index: Coming Up Just Finished: Breaking Just Finished: Cycling Honorable Mention Coming up: Tuba City Games! T his October we will inaugurate Our Games in Tuba City with an in person athletics event in Tuba: the 100m dash! Join us at 6pm on October 16th at the Tuba City High School Track (access via the gate at the corner of Edgewater Dr and Hilltop St. If attendance allows, we will also run the 4x100m relay! Coming up: Cross-country Skiing III:  50k (55km) Classical Mass Start C are to join us in the most famous ski race in the USA? Sign up for the American Birkebeiner and race with us in the 55km commemoration of a 1206 smuggling of an illegitimate prince! Also, mark your calendar for xc ski races at Flagstaff's Nordic Village Just Finished: Breaking: Individual N ew to the Olympic Games this year was Breaking, AKA Breakdancing. Since January, Our Olympics took up the
Read more