My mom and I flew over to Wilmington on Thursday morning and caught a ride to the Blockade Runner in Wrightsville Beach. Already racers were starting to arrive from all over the world! I got to see friends from Hawaii, California, New Zealand, and of course my Florida buddies from back home. Jimmy Terrell, the owner of Quickblade Paddles, was putting on a stroke clinic with legendary wat
erman and 10 time Molokai2Oahu winner Jamie Mitchell, and they asked me to help!! I learned a lot myself and it was awesome to be a part of a clinic with such accomplished paddlers.
erman and 10 time Molokai2Oahu winner Jamie Mitchell, and they asked me to help!! I learned a lot myself and it was awesome to be a part of a clinic with such accomplished paddlers.
On Friday, a bunch of board companies put out their tents and boards for paddlers to play with on the beach! A bunch of the local girls walked up and introduced themselves to me. They actually knew who I was, and they wanted to paddle with me!! I even signed some autographs!! It is so incredible to have kids come up and tell me that I've inspired them and that they look up to me because of my paddling. I even had parents introduce themselves and thank me for being a role model to their kids!! No matter what race I may win, place I will travel, or event I will compete in, nothing will mean as much to me as hearing that from a bunch of girls stoked on paddling. It's amazing that I can touch other people's lives just from living my own life to the fullest and doing what I love. Those girls were the ones who inspired me!!
The next day was race day!! Looking out at the conditions, it seemed a lot like last year's course--a fun 2 miles downwind, a looong flat water slog against current and wind, through a tossing, breaking pass, finishing with a side wind, choppy paddle back to the start; in total more than 13 miles. I got caught up at the buoy in the beginning after I had a great start because my leash got caught in the buoy string and I had to jump off my board, detach my leash, get back onboard and put my leash back on. I was kicking myself for making such a silly error!! All of the girls I wanted to beat were already starting ahead of me. But this motivated me to put my head down and make up the lost ground. I passed all but four girls, but I could feel the racers behind me creep up on me, then fall behind. I worked really hard to make sure they never passed me. By the time I got to mile 12, my body had just about quit on me. My legs were cramped and stiff and I couldn't feel my toes!! But my muscle memory kicked in and my arms just kept going like I have done almost every day for the past couple of years. I fell on my way in to the finish because my legs weren't working, but I managed to make the run up the beach more than 2 minutes ahead of my closest competition!!
The cheers at the finish line and passing the demo beach along the course were undoubtedly the best part of the race. I got a little teary thinking about how many people were rooting for me and cared about my place in the race. The stoke and enthusiasm just radiating from the crowd is awesome and so humbling. One of the other highlights for me was staying the the Quickblade house with some of my paddling teammates and heroes like Matt Becker, Jimmy Terrell, Candice Appleby, Krisztina Zur, Brandi Baksic, Joe Bark, etc. To have my name next to such amazing paddlers is so incredible.
I ended up in fifth overall in women's, which counts as a podium position in a big race like the Carolina Cup!! I'm stoked to have reached my goal and placed in the biggest East Coast race. Big congrats to all the racers who competed. Also very proud of the Carolina/Georgia girls who raced this weekend, Lindsay, Audrey, Macentire, and Betsy!! I was asked to give a "Most Inspirational" award to one racer from the weekend on behalf of Standup Paddle Magazine, and I was honored to present it to Anna Blackburn, a 13 y/o girl who killed in the 6 mile race!! She and the other girls inspire me to keep paddling and reach out other paddlers across the world.
HUGE thank you to Quickblade for putting me and my mom up at the Blockade Runner and for their endless love and support <3 Also to Bark for setting me up with the best boards, and Maui Jim for keeping my eyes shielded during the race. Suncoast Surf Shop paid my entry fee, which is huge for me! SUP race fins gave me the best fin for all of the Graveyard course conditions, and Sweet Waterwear helped me with much needed compression pants for the race. I had so much fun, cannot wait til next year!!
xoxo Bailey
No comments:
Post a Comment