|
Slave
River | Mexico
| White Nile |
Grand Canyon
| Chile/Argentina
| French Alps
Yukon | Bearpaw
| The Green Race
| Moosefest 2007
| WW Symposium 2007
Women of the Green Race
A perspective from this year's Green Queen Andria Baldovin
The Green Narrows is an infamous stretch of
class V creeking in Western North Carolina and the Green Race is
said to be the most difficult and awesome of all competitive whitewater
events. No wonder it is a place and a season filled with a hundred
testoserone induced boys and men fighting for the prestigious glass
that is won by the fastest time down the Narrows on the first Saturday
of November. But what about the women? Who are the elusive brave
women who race and what does it feel like for us?
This year's Green River Narrows Race had 6 brave women, the most
of any year yet. Robin Betz is a young Virginia Tech student and
creeking diva who was courageous enough to race this year in a Tornado
and was the Green Queen in 2005. Buffy Bailey-Burge raced even though
she was just 7 months out from having a baby and she is the Green
Queen from 2003. Jen Cribbs is a local creeker babe who killed it
in Jerry's Battle last spring, a kind of triathlon where racers
run down the put in trail, race the entire Green Narrows (Green
Race is only 1/2 mile of it), and then bike on mountain roads for
25 miles. Then there were two newcomers, Shanna Powell and Adrienne,
who proved with their first race that they are very strong class
V women. With this line-up, I did not expect to win, I just wanted
to have fun and race clean lines.
As we sat on the starting line, I thought I might puke. "I really
don't want to do this, do I?" was the thought I kept having. I had
to counter that with positive thoughts like, "I've done this before
and I am better now." I had to breathe and calm down-my heart was
racing and I was dizzy-- the moment felt surreal. Then they started
counting down, 10, 9…, I felt like crying. I pulled out of the starting
line and had to focus on paddling slow. Everyone goes screaming
out of the starting line and this can easily result in getting eddied
out in Frankenstein. I paddled smooth and slow and styled the line.
All emotions began to pull away and I began to just paddle like
a machine through one rapid at a time. This is my favorite part
of racing-there is no time for apprehension, it's just me and the
river and it's the most peaceful that I ever feel in my life. This
is why I race the Green. I did race clean lines, unbelievably clean.
I took it pretty slow down the river and paced my breathing. I took
a big breath before each big rapid so I would have energy to deal
in case I got worked. At each big rapid, I focused really hard and
I had much cleaner lines than in training-some of them I even hit
for the first time! Some of this is luck, because sometimes you
just get worked on the Green, and some was the lack of apprehension
that I often had in training.
This year, I had some surprising experiences that helped me to grow
as a woman paddler too. In early fall, I became dedicated to training
for this race by doing flatwater sprints and running the Green as
much as possible. Like most women, I really like to train with someone
and I was hoping that my fiancé would train with me, but he was
just not into it. As the race came closer and closer, I became more
dedicated and he became more distant and I felt very alone. I am
used to running the Green with Leland-he makes me feel safe and
he is a good coach, but I had to go out on the river and train mostly
without him. The result is that I feel less dependent on my man
to be there for me and more confident in myself. At the same time,
I got a sense of community from the women.
Just as I was sitting around fretting about a certain line and bugging
Leland to death asking questions, Buffy called and she was fretting
about the same line. We got to have some girl moments freaking out
and it consoled me. It was truly bonding and inspiring. The women
in the race this year also wore jerseys for Katie Hilleke who is
fighting colon cancer. We were bonded together to race for a fellow
woman paddler and that felt really awesome-like the race was about
more than just me, it was about our community.
Racing the Green and boating class V in general requires a few key
things as a woman. One is that we need to learn to let go. When
a man feels fear, he just peels out and goes anyway-he pushes through.
When women feel fear, our intuition tells us not to go because we
have such a strong sense of self -preservation. But if you really
want it, you have to just peel out and go. One woman said something
like, "Its not that I don't have fear, its that I go in spite of
it." I think class V is much harder for women because we have more
mental blocks to fight through. If you decide that you want to run
Class V, do make sure you are ready for the challenge and work your
way up gradually. The physical aspect of the race and the thing
that I have been lacking in general is abdominal strength. I have
been training my core and I did lots of upper body training, but
during the race, I just ran out of juice. The next day, my abs were
unbelievably sore and my upper body not at all. Men have it easy
here-they have more ab strength than we do and that makes it easier
for them to maintain the stamina of the Green Race and creeking
in general. I encourage all women to do some pilates or other dynamic
ab strengtheners-this is my plan and goal for the next year! I want
to race again next year and beat some more of those boys!
Check out Andria's books and DVDs at www.brushymountainpublishing.com
|
Instruction
