Vail – An already intimate whitewater kayaking community grew closer Sunday on the final day of the Teva Mountain Games, as professional paddlers Eric Jackson and Emily Jackson became the first father-daughter rodeo champions in history after winning their respective divisions in the men’s and women’s freestyle event.
Emily Jackson, 15, won her first professional kayak rodeo at the Vail whitewater park on Gore Creek, besting veteran paddlers Tanya Faux of Australia and Tanya Shuman of Washington, D.C., in the final for a top score of 40.5 points. Faux was second (25.5), followed by Shuman, who scored only four points in the semifinals after repeatedly flushing out of the competition hole.
“Most of the girls were just trying to get one loop. My goal was to get both loops – a regular one and an air loop, which is worth like three times the points,” Jackson said. “And my other goal was to have fun.”
A “loop” is a front flip or somersault while surfing upstream on the competition wave. The more difficult air loops occur when the entire boat boosts out of the water during the flip.
At 5-feet-2, 115 pounds, Jackson made the most of her small frame to repeatedly bounce her boat off the wave and land upright on the feature. She learned the technique from her father, the reigning freestyle kayaking world champion and designer of her custom-built Jackson kayak.
“He gives me pointers every day,” she said.
As for the elder Jackson, the sudden rise of his daughter’s skill level left him as amazed as anyone among the crowd of several hundred spectators watching the final, which was postponed a day because of weather.
“Two weeks ago, my daughter got second in the rodeo at Reno, and I didn’t know if she could duplicate that, but it’s just starting to occur to me how good she’s getting,” said Eric Jackson, 40. “She won every round all weekend – from preliminaries to semifinals and now finals. That’s something I never would have anticipated. All I know is that it’s pretty awesome.”
The elder Jackson’s prowess in the Vail whitewater park was nothing short of awesome, as he looked up at event judges before every trick and announced his intentions before sticking the move, varying between front air loops, back loops and a dizzying string of vertical cartwheels on the right and left edges of his kayak. Jackson’s 112 points in the final round was far and away the best score of the weekend, beating runner-up Jay Kincaid of Reno, Nev., by 24 points. Two-time defending event champion Dustin Urban of Maine was third with 63 points.
“For me, every time I go into a rodeo my goal is to win,” Jackson said. “I don’t win them all, but so far I’ve won them all this year. In five freestyle events this year, so far I’m undefeated, which is nice when you’re competing against people like Jay Kincaid, Dustin Urban, Andrew Holcomb – all those guys – even my son, Dane. It’s a challenge.”
Dane Jackson, 11, finished seventh overall in the men’s pro rodeo competition, advancing as far as the semifinals Saturday. He won the bronze medal in the Teva Games’ Big Trick competition Thursday. His father won the gold.
“It just never occurred to me that it would be possible for an 11-year-old to compete with the pro men at that level,” Eric Jackson said. “I don’t even know what to think about that yet.”
In other events, Nikki Kelly of New Zealand won the kayak “8” Ball race to complete a sweep of the women’s competition.
Tommy Hilleke of North Carolina won the men’s race. The Vail-based Nike/Balance Bar team of Mike Kloser, Sari Chwalk and Dave Weins won the GNC Adventure Sprint championship race, beating Team Newcastle Ltd./Crested Butte by just more than six minutes, finishing in 4 hours, 45 minutes and 35 seconds. Lance Egan took top honors in the inaugural one-fly fishing competition.
Scott Willoughby can be reached at 303-820-1993 or swilloughby@denverpost.com.
