Nineteen-year-old Petri Alva’s favorite sprint-kayaking event is the 500 meter.
“It’s just a fantastic race because it combines speed and endurance in a really challenging way,” he said. He laughed and added, “It’s about 90 seconds of all-out pain.”
That’s the positive attitude shared by both Petri and his twenty-five-year-old brother, Zachary Alva. They are kayakers who train to compete in sprinting events at the senior national and world levels.
Their hard work has paid off. Both brothers qualified to compete in the World Cup 1 in Szeged, Hungary this last May and in the upcoming national championships in Sarasota, Florida, in August.
Zachary also qualified to compete in the world championships in Duisburg, Germany this August, as well as the World Cup 3 in Paris. In addition, he hopes to earn a spot in both the Paris and the Los Angeles Olympics.
“A lot of the focus in the U.S. is on the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics,” Zach said, “because it’s at home and that’s where our development trajectory is pointed. But we do have a number of athletes focused on [Paris] 2024.”
What Is Sprint Kayaking?
Sprint kayaking may not get as much attention as other Summer Olympic events, but it has been around since it debuted as a full-metal sport in the Berlin 1936 Summer Olympics.The sprinting events consist of individual (K1), paired (K2), or four-person crews (K4) who sit in a kayak that is steered by one rudder under the hull of the boat. The kayak is propelled by crewmembers pulling with double-bladed paddles on alternate sides of the kayak.
Sprint kayaking events include the 200 meter, 500m, 1000m, and 5000m. Because these kayaks are narrow and unstable, they only race on calm flat water.
The River Town Racers
Zachary and Petri train with a club called the River Town Racers in Petaluma, California. Traditionally, the strongest west-coast sprint-kayaking teams have come from the Long Beach area of Southern California and the Seattle area of Washington, with their ties to major universities. The River Town Racers, however, is a private racing club coached by husband-and-wife team Misha Riszkiewicz and Susan Starbird.“We’re the first ever kayaking team in Northern California, as far as I’m aware,” said Petri. “We did kind of take the scene by storm a few years ago in our second nationals. We shocked some people, which is really fantastic.”
Petri attributes much of the success of their team to coaches Riszkiewicz and Starbird.
“They instilled a tough work ethic into all of us,” he said.
He said the coaches are “invested in all aspects” of their team’s lives, and he also appreciates his teammates “for really pushing me to the next level.”
“We raise the level together,” he said.
Training Partners and Brothers
Petri and Zachary often train and compete together.“It’s wonderful,” said Zach. “I don’t know if either of us could be doing as well if we didn’t have each other as training partners. To be able to combine that effort into one boat is just super special.”
Both young men said the hardest part about training is having to get up early in the morning.
Zach said: “It’s 5:45 a.m., and you’re trying to convince yourself that you want to go paddle almost before the sun is up, and it’s raining and cold. But if you want to go fast when it’s sunny, you have to also train when it’s raining.”
“Those early morning start times are the hardest,” said Petri. “But it’s really just the first five minutes. … Once you get on the water it’s just the most beautiful morning you’ve ever seen in your life, so it’s totally worth it.”
Both brothers said that sprint kayaking is a wonderful sport for many reasons: the camaraderie of fellow kayakers, their teammates’ positive work ethic, being out in nature, and being able to rise to the physical and mental challenges.
“It’s just really fun to do,” Petri said. “You get really strong by doing it—mentally and physically.”
Zach agreed, saying that he gets the opportunity to push himself “harder than I’ve ever pushed myself.”
Work-Life Balance
Zach and Petri train hard for their sport. Their water sessions take place early in the morning and late in the afternoon. They also work out in the gym several times a week and squeeze in cardio sessions, like running. Yet they each have a life outside of kayaking.Petri attends junior college. By doing his workouts early in the morning and late in the afternoon, he is able to take a full load of classes. He finds it helpful to get his homework done as soon as he gets it.
“Having done this sport for so long, it did teach me some really valuable time-management skills,” he said.
Zachary works half-time to three-quarters-time as an engineer at Cargo Velocity in Petaluma. He wants to give them a “shout-out” for their flexibility and help toward pursuing his goals, especially when he has to travel for training.
Rewards of Competing
Zachary credits the rigors of training and competing with giving him the confidence to reach for other goals, such as his engineering degree. It had felt “a little out of reach,” but he knew he had the ability to “push through.”He said the work ethic involved in getting up and training also helped him with studying.
Petri loves the pure joy of competing.
“I had to teach myself how to push past that barrier when racing and kind of go into the next level of pain,” he said. “But it is so rewarding to cross that finish line and know that you left it all out to the final meter. It’s really incredible.”
