ROCKY MOUNTAIN OUTLOOK – Turning 50 has not slowed down kayak legend David Ford.
The five-time Olympian earned a spot on the Canadian national team with a win and two silver medals at the 2017 whitewater kayak/canoe slalom national team trials at Canoe Meadows, Kananaskis, May 13-14.
Ford has now made national team criteria in five different decades of his life, and must now decide if he will return to the world cup in June, and race world championships in September.
After missing the 2016 Summer Olympics, Ford stepped away from on-water training to spend more time enjoying his Rocky Mountain lifestyle. But once team trials were moved from Whistler to Kananaskis, the Canmorite decided to give it a go.
“It really wasn’t my intention,” said Ford, who celebrated his 50th birthday in March. “But I thought since it’s in my backyard, I’d put in a month of training. It was cool to win one of the races. Now the question is what to do?”
Considering he hadn’t raced his kayak in 11 months, the result is incredible. Ford is still in remarkable shape and spent much of his year cross-country skiing, mountain biking, hiking and golfing with his son Cooper and wife Kelly Vanderbeek. His technical skills weren’t quite on point on race day, yet with an unmatched body of experience, he had plenty of veteran savvy to draw upon.
“I didn’t find getting the fitness back was tough. It was the sport specific intuitive part which was tricky. I didn’t have those 12 months of training to draw upon like a regular season,” Ford said.
Contemplating his future within the sport, Ford had to rediscover his love of paddling, and wasn’t sure if he’d enjoy pulling on a racing bib again after an 11 month hiatus.
