http://vimeo.com/107896515

As we count down the final few hours til the 2014 Battle of the Paddle at Salt Creek, Facebook is going into overdrive. It’s hard to scroll through your news feed without seeing at least eight dozen pics/videos/comments/previews of excited (and quite often nervous) paddlers, fans and brands.

But one thing that stood out as I scrolled through this morning was a simple, black-and-white, kinda-ominous looking Vimeo preview titled “Race Day.” This is Quickblade Paddles’ official pre-BOP psych up clip. It features a chat with 2009 Battle of the Paddle champion (and this year’s official/unofficial Dark Horse) Jamie Mitchell, overlayed with the rest of the Quickblade team training for the big dance.

Interestingly the clip features virtually no footage of the actual BOP race itself: The whole point was to show the build up – the race before the race.

The video comes from Chris Aguilar over at Fin Film Company, the guy responsible for some of the most memorable Battle of the Paddle edits every year.

Watch above and enjoy.