Canoe racing: Pulling together

Barry Faulkner

Though they probably spend as much time in the laboratory as on the

water and their respective college campuses are 400 miles apart, Greg

Chinn and Patrick Sharma still find it surprisingly easy to pull in the

same direction.

The two Newport Beach residents did exactly that at last week’s

National Sprint Canoe and Kayak Championships on Lake Natoma, just

outside Sacramento.

Paddling together for the first time in the senior (over 18) class,

the Newport Harbor High products and Newport Aquatic Center canoe

veterans performed well enough to earn two of the 16 spots on the senior

national team, which will represent the United States at the Senior World

Championships, Aug. 22-26 in Poznan, Poland.

“We clicked really well together,” said Chinn, who grew up paddling

with Sharma at the NAC, before being separated by their studies for the

2000-01 school year.

Chinn, who teamed with Sharma to win U.S. national junior

championships in the C-2 (two-man canoe) at 500 and 1,000 meters in 1999,

recently completed his freshman year as a biology major at UC Irvine.

Sharma, who, like Chinn, took a short bike ride to NAC to train before

graduating from high school, just completed his first year at UC

Berkeley, where he majors in history and molecular cell biology.

Despite having to train in separate locales and balance heavy coarse

loads, they continue to form a formidable duo.

“We have a lot of experience paddling together,” Sharma said.

“Especially in the double, I feel really comfortable with Greg. He’s a

good partner. We grew up with the same coaching, so our strokes are

pretty similar.”

At the national sprint championships, they finished third as a tandem

in the 1,000 and the 500 and were second in the 200.

They will likely team with two other paddlers in a C-4 boat in Poland,

but specific assignments have yet to be determined by the coaching staff.

They may also compete individually, but both believe they will not paddle

together in a C-2 race.

Chinn, also a former junior national champion in the singles (he won

the C-1 500 and 1,000 in 1999 and advanced to the Senior World

Championships in Milan, Italy) also fared well individually up North.

He finished third in the C-1 1,000, tied for third in the 200 and was

fourth in the 500.

Sharma finished sixth individually in the 500 and 1,000 at the event,

which concluded Saturday.

Chinn and Sharma said it is increasingly difficult to balance

consistent training with their demanding course work. But, they both

managed to stay sharp enough to approach the world-class heroes of their

youth.

“It’s a lot harder to train with school, because the academics are

harder and I have less free time,” Sharma said. “And, if you don’t have a

partner there, it’s easy to lose focus and motivation. But this summer,

our (NAC) coaches, Sheila Conover and Sam Couch, brought us together. The

summer really helped make up for a lack of training.”

Chinn, who lives on campus at UCI, said he, too, found it more

difficult to train during school.

“Going to school full time, I wasn’t quite sure where I should put all

my focus,” Chinn said. “ But I think we both improved on our own.”

Both said their performances in Sacramento were particularly

gratifying.

“It’s very exciting for us (to be going to the senior worlds), because

there are really good paddlers there,” Chinn said.

Added Sharma: “Greg and I have looked up to the senior paddlers who’ll

be at worlds for a long time. They’re like our idols.”

Though it will be their first senior world championships together,

Chinn and Sharma have traveled abroad before, spending two separate

training stints in the Czech Republic. They have also honed their skills

at the U.S. Olympic training facilities in Lake Placid, N.Y., and Chula

Vista.

They are scheduled to leave Monday for Poland, where they will spend

about a week training at the Polish national team’s facility before the

world championships begin.

“It should be a good experience,” Sharma said. “We’re not really

looking for results, as much as seeing how the other guys paddle.”