The Things You Learn...

Here it is - Day 3 of practices before the big event!  I don't have a ton for you to read about today, but it sure is nice to see so many boats on the Glenmore Reservoir!  Check it out - here's a photo from way back to Day 2:

Lots of teams are here now including paddlers from Tahiti!  That's got to be a long flight.  I hope all of you who have come a long way are doing OK with the time change and the altitude! Calgary is not a super high city - we are at 3,442 ft above sea level.  Compare to Mexico City, say, which is 7,349 ft!  But for some of you who are from places that are AT sea level... it might be a bit more challenging to exert yourself than normal.  Even places in Europe.  Paris sits at 112 ft above sea level, and Rome is only 46 ft!  Wow.  Speaking of Italy, here are some paddlers from Team Italy.  So far, they win for best uniform:



Team Italy to the left of the pic in the cool blue pants!  I like those!

Thanks Joelle, for the covertly taken photos! 

And, speaking of photos, I hear our fantastic technology team have all the cameras in place along the race course.  Apparently, Malcolm Jubinville was hanging off the edge of a cliff yesterday (well, maybe not a cliff, but a REALLY steep hill) setting up some of the cameras.  They are so cool.  Here are 3 of the team members:



Dave, Neil & Malcolm of the Technology Team

Check out those gloves Malcolm is wearing!  They must be his cliff-climbing gloves!  If you see these guys around in the next while, maybe ask them when was the last time they ate a meal.  We need to keep their strength up! Missing from the photo is Terry Lo, who arrived shortly after.  I'll catch him on this blog yet.  Terry is a not just a tech wizard, but a foodie who has posted a whole bunch of great Calgary restaurants on the Facebook page.  I'll re-post the list for you here later on. Terry is also in charge of our Twitter accounts.  Do you know you can follow along at @vaaworld2012 for general news & results?  If you're a paddler & just want to see results, you can follow @vaaresults1.   Here's a fun fact:  All these tech dudes are also paddlers on the same dragon boat team! 

Speaking of fun facts, one of the women who volunteers at the shuttle bus stop at Mount Royal University, Heather Arthurs, was telling me that Team New Zealand was super excited to see our yellow school buses.  Apparently, they don't have them there, but have seen them lots on TV and in movies.  Huh.  Who knew?  One of those things we see all the time (says Heather, "I see them twice a day all year long!") but are novel for others.  Kind of like us going to London & seeing the red, double-decker buses I'd imagine.  Cool.

So keep sending me your photos and stories.  I'll have a lot more of my own photos starting tomorrow at the Opening Ceremony!  Then races begin on Saturday.  Pretty exciting! 

I'll leave you now with this pic of Team Tahiti loading into their boat.  We hear they're pretty fast.  Can't wait to see all these teams in action!! 

Team Tahiti in the white, going out for a practice