A lady named Cathy Summers has posted some really neat photos of the 1979 whitewater racing season on Face Book. Apparently she has had them in the form of slides all these years, and she is now scanning them and sharing them. Face Book users can view her albums on the page "Whitewater Slalom Alumni and Friends."
1979 is the season covered in the movie Fast and Clean, a documentary of whitewater slalom racing in the United States and U.S. racers' quests for medals at the world championships. Having spent most of the 1990s trying my hand at slalom, I've watched Fast and Clean many, many times. Seeing these photos now makes me feel like I'm learning "The Rest Of The Story." The photos include all the athletes and events we see in Fast and Clean, plus many other athletes and many other events.
Pictured above are Davey Hearn and Ron Lugbill. Davey and Ron both appear in Fast and Clean competing in slalom single canoe (C1), the discipline for which they are best known. But the fact is that they were also on the wildwater national team during the early part of their careers, and in this photo they are paddling a wildwater C2 on Rivière Saguenay at Jonquière, Quebec, the site of the '79 world championships. I'm guessing this is a practice run since Ron is not wearing a number bib. (A whitewater racer usually gets a bib to wear rather than a number to tape on the boat's deck.)
It just so happens that Davey and his wife Jennifer have DVD copies of Fast and Clean for sale through their company Sweet Composites. Anybody reading this who hasn't seen the film should order a copy right away and experience the magic for himself or herself. Though I don't see this product actually listed on the site, Jennifer has confirmed that they do in fact have it. 25 bucks apiece... money you will not regret spending. Get busy and call them up, and tell them My Training Blog by Elmore sent you.
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