Gorge Downwind Champs were recently held over in the United States. I decided to take on the adventure from NZ as a solo traveler. Here is how my race went, my theory behind how I trained for it, and a bit of a race write-up.
The Mission
Travelling alone, the most cost-effective way to get over to the race was to hire a small camper. This meant my accommodation and transport were consolidated into one cost. There is a campground at the race HQ which many seem to utilise for the week. There were many challenges with this for me. I had been to the States before, but this time I didn’t have a local point of contact. It was all on me to get myself to the US and drive to the race HQ. My plan was to stay in a hotel close to the airport in Portland for a couple of nights. Pick up the van on the second day and drive over to Stevenson on day 3 when the camp ground opened.
Things you take for granted at home are a challenge simply because I hadn’t experienced them before like driving on the other side of the road, local nuances of where to go for food and where not to go, etc. This was all part of the challenge. The campground wasn’t overly well equipped with showers etc., from what I’ve experienced in NZ, and with the temperatures closing in on 40 degrees some days, getting a good night’s rest and sleep and keeping things cool was a challenge.
On the easy side of the ledger, Bob from Ocean Flight made boat hire very easy, gave me plenty of local info on the course, and even helped with logistics on the day. Having this help made all the difference and I cannot recommend Bob/Ocean Flight enough for a point of contact in Stevenson for this event.
Race Week
Shuttles ran daily throughout race week. These are typically from Skamania campground/race HQ to Home Valley. The run is about 10k and provides a good feel for what the conditions are like on the Columbia River. On the Monday of race week, we had “fairly good” conditions according to the locals, and I feel this was similar to what we get on the “Raspberry Bun Run” in Lyttelton on a good day with the exception that we need to paddle into the wind first at home. We got a couple of runs in due the wind being forecasted to drop on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Tuesday and Wednesday were reverse run shuttles. These were also the hottest days. I did one run on Tuesday and had a day off on Wednesday. Fast times due to paddling with the flow, but not a lot to surf with wind and current moving in the same direction.
Thursday, I managed to get on a downwind run from Drano Lake to White Salmon River, with the guys from Coast Outdoors. I had previously met Bob and Seth in Lyttelton in 2019, so it was good to make contact again. We got to paddle through “Swell City,” a section of the river with the best waves to surf. On race day you mostly avoid this section as the finish is on the opposite side of the river. So it was good to be able to do a run through this section you are not able to do it without arranging your own logistics.
Here is a picture of the Race course including the Skamania to Home Valley Shuttle run for reference. * might not be 100% correct 🙂
The Race
Race day was called on Friday. We seemed to have plenty of wind, which was good, and it was one of the better race days in recent years. Apart from my electrolyte drink getting too warm and tasting funny, everything was feeling good.
The start you basically drift down with the start boat, using a flag system to indicate the “ready” and “start.” This seemed to work well and was one of the easier starts I’ve experienced to get space up the front ready to go.
I didn’t go with the pace of the line and just got into surfing straight away. I could see both Austin and Macca in front of me for most of the first half of the event, and even felt like I held my ground/gained slightly 🙂 while I could follow their line through the gorge. I could sense the rest of the field close behind as well, so had to keep pushing to hold my position, as I felt I was in 5th most of the race (excluding the start).
Once I caught the OCs/Waka, the front guys were a bit harder to follow and I probably lost a bit of ground in the back half of the race. Then it was just a matter of surfing my way to the finish. In the last 1–2k, you need to turn away from the waves to the finish line. This is also where there can be some weed. I know I wasn’t the only one, but I did really have to “fight” through the last KMs with a big chunk of weed on. So stoked to be able to hold onto 5th as it would have been a disaster to have been passed here.
Overall, I’m stoked with the result. However, I don’t feel it was my greatest performance on the water. That said, even with a better performance, I was probably destined to finish 5th at this event.
My Training
Came off a fairly successful NZ racing season.
- December 2024 – Won Nationals in Queenstown in a close battle with Gene and Toby
- January 2025 – King and Queen of the Bay – 9 min win from the rest of the field
- February 2025 – Coast to Coast paddle on the Waimak River on a ski second fastest time
- May 2025 King and Queen of the Harbour 2nd to Gene
Overall managed to win the series due to winning Nationals back in December, but equal on points with Gene.
Conditions start to get cold, and any onshore (good downwind wind for us) tends to disappear over winter, replaced with either calmer conditions or southerlies (not great).
The plan was to decrease my mileage, as achieving a high mileage over winter might be difficult and I’ve been training consistently for the best part of 5 years now, so I should have established a solid base regardless of my shorter-term training. So I was to focus on intensity and strength on the lead-up to the Gorge.
I kept my strength stuff very gymnastics-based, as this was a challenge and interesting to me plus kept with a few strength staples like bench press, deadlifts, etc., and also programmed in my paddling-specific movements. I was largely training solo on the water, so wrote a couple of new high-intensity sessions and also used Scarborough wave sessions as a way of getting speed, wave play, and high intensity all in one. I also had to do a few erg sessions due to weather including a 20k on the erg at one stage.
My weekly mileage was between 70–100km of paddling or erg per week. A little bit of running and gym 2–3 times per week. Motivation was a bit low through winter, but I just had to keep showing up. As the saying goes:
We don’t rise to the level of our expectations — we fall to the level of our training.
My race performance reflects my training – I got it done, but perhaps it wasn’t as well executed as it could have been. However I do feel I’m in a good position to build on coming into the NZ summer.
Coaching
Moving into some bigger races coming up and around the world, now is the time to get some coaching and help with your paddling.
Check out the fixed-price offers below for access to my membership site, which gives you all the info you need to train effectively under your own constraints. Or just reach out and I’m happy to answer any questions or create something more bespoke for you.
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