Green Race 2018 - Chris Wing

I raced to a PB of 4:48 after racing a 5:02 in 2016. I was pretty disappointed in 2016 as I trained pretty extensively and was surprised at how well I did in 2018 despite really only putting in 8 days of focused practice on the water.
I did a fair bit of coaching and consulting through this Green Race season so my mind was definitely on it. I also carried over quite a bit of residual from my 2016 training.
The mental game is what I truly struggled with in my two previous races and I wanted to go into this race not really caring, but underneath I felt I could beat my previous time if I just kept the focus on fun and positive affirmation.
The top of the course is what I would really like to become more confident and faster on, but it certainly is the lonliest part of the course with you and all of your thoughts. I did a lot of talking to myself and even still it was hard to get my heart rate down. Two things I remained hyper-focused on was breathing and getting a nice tilt forward. I did know that these boats paddle better up at speed as opposed to floating, so I did stay focus on keeping effort to at least that minimum as well.
Overall, I'm stoked and really looking forward on taking away some new found knowledge and confidence to several new start lines in 2019!

[@chrisbowe5055]

This is the best video I have seen on this race. Chris, hearing your breathing and such make the video. Great Job!

[@whitewaterdreams]

Thank you!

[@willm6705]

awesome !!! - Bill M.

[@DavidHutcheson]

Well done Chris. A solid run 👍

[@TheConorFinegan]

Leaving it all out there Chris. Love the power screams. Stellar effort congrats on the PB!

[@swampymaan]

nice run... and nice lines...iLike

[@mattheworella370]

Chris are you paddling a 12ft boat? And what advantage will this give you over a 9ft boat or using your ripper?

[@whitewaterdreams]

I'm using the 12r, yes. They are decidedly faster than the 9ft boats as they carry a greater amount of speed due to waterline and width. There are varying shapes in this class of boat and this one is very jibby in comparison to the others. I like that ability to use it's boxy stern to carve hard. Basically, anything over 9ft in a lot of races nowadays constitutes it being in a long boat class. The reason for 12ft being the relative length amongst its peers is that it is fast while still being just maneuverable enough. Certainly not as maneuverable as the 9ft boats. This requires you to have foresight with your moves and requires a really proactive approach to paddling. Racing takes that element and enhances it with the clock. Really fun way to experience the river, but also really stressful. -Chris

[@mattheworella370]

@@whitewaterdreams thank you for getting back to me Chris, we don't really have r12 boats here in the UK, but have seen quite a few on KZbin covering the green race, and recently saw the new pyranha r12 at the white water center, they look like a bit of a throw back to the past of fiberglass boats, however we are limited with access to white water over the UK with the exception of Scotland, and the width of the rivers i am guessing is smaller in comparison to USA, have you paddled your ripper on that section of water?