After the USCA Nationals this year, several of our top paddlers competed in the Chicago Shoreline Marathon. It fascinated me to see that while many of them performed well, the finish order was somewhat reversed from how they finished in the flat water/river racing at the Nationals. Obviously, the skills used in flat water racing aren't entirely transferable to big water racing.
Thus, the thought occured to me: how about an "Ultimate Paddler" competition, where those interested would compete in both the Chicago Shoreline Marathon and the USCA Nationals (or a similar race could be created close to the Chicago Shoreline Marathon), receiving points for finish order in each one, with the highest points paddler being named the "Ultimate US Paddler"? Such a competition would require skills in dealing with big water waves, downwind surfing, etc., and also skills in dealing with river currents (upriver and down), shallows, suck water, etc. The same boats could be used in both cases (rudder changes would probably be required), or competitors could switch boats if desired (perhaps using a ski in the big water and a K-1 in the flats).
When I proposed this on a USCA site, it seemed to attract quite a bit of interest. What do you think about having such a race?
