Ye Olde St. Joe River looked pretty inviting at Lori’s Fort Wayne Canoe & Kayak Races Saturday: comfortable temps in the low 70’s, plenty of water, essentially no current, and very little wind. Of course, that also meant the whole course would be one of brute power as opposed to technique, and it was a bit of a slog. But that didn’t stop the participants, and we had 19 paddlers take to the line – likely something of a record for recent times. It was also a race of “classics”, as we had paddlers with long histories showing up for this race. Skeet Craig was excited to find that he was one of the younger guys… Dwight Walker joined again, apparently by accident: he had come out to run some laps in preparation for another AuSable attempt, only to find a race was going on! Garry Hill and Dan Bidwell showed up, complete with classic Wabash Valley Dyna C canoes. And then we had some newer paddlers: Steve Floria and Sam Welch arrived with a C2 Proboat, while Michelle Huss and Jason Anderson arrived with an aluminum C2 – the first competition for George and Hilman in that class for quite a while. Jim Anderson made an appearance, but only to spectate.
Lori was her usual energetic self in getting the race started, in spite of a morning of challenges (including a flat tire on her car), and gave us a nice countdown to the start. As the horn blew, I hammered my OC1, making use of the light weight and stability to sprint ahead rapidly at the start, knowing I wouldn’t be able to hold off the fast K1’s for long. Plus Julie (my wife) was watching, and I had to impress my date. In short order Jon Henderson, Larry Swift, and Kyle Wills pulled ahead, beginning a battle for supremacy that would carry to the end. Behind them Paul Kane was making his C1 move; he seems to be angling to be the next Bill Kanost. Then as we came to the St. Joe Center bridge for our first turn, I was running next to Dwight Walker with Matt Conrad waking me. I cut inside Dwight for an excellent bridge turn, only to find the opening blocked by some major logs. Yikes! I quickly rerouted to the next opening, but that gave Dwight the opening he needed to move slightly ahead. Not a problem; now I was able to draft Dwight while Matt continued to draft me. And so we continued most of the way up to the Maysville Road Bridge at the top of the course.
A little ways before the bridge, I fell off Dwight’s wake and he gradually increased his lead going to the bridge. Coming back from the bridge turn as we approached were Jon, Larry, and Kyle, still in tough competition. As we returned from the bridge I was hoping to make up some time on Dwight, and while I seemed to keep a relatively constant spacing, I was never able to close the gap. After a mile or so, Matt decided it was time to make his move, so he charged around me. I was able to ride the nice draft of that sea kayak for a bit, but then Matt proved to be too strong. I figured he was going to draft Dwight, but Matt apparently felt strong and charged on past Dwight to the finish. Meanwhile, Jon and Larry had an incredibly tight finish, with Larry eking out the win by 3 seconds and Kyle just over a minute behind. Larry was definitely “Swift” at this race! Paul Kane followed, then Matt, Dwight, and myself. After me came the team of Steve & Sam in their C2. They apparently made up some good time, because they had been somewhat further back as we came back from the bridge. After the race I gave them some tips on running a C2, then turned them over to Dwight for some pro-level instruction. They seemed hungry to learn!
Skeet, Vicki, Dan, Brent, and Roger followed in that order (Roger was surprisingly fast this race), followed by the two aluminum teams and Garry. Garry may have been the last in, but he definitely scored some serious style points with his very patriotic attire!
After the awards ceremony and some clean up, several of us headed over to Shigs in Pit BBQ for an excellent post-race meal. Many thanks to Lori for hosting an excellent race, to Julie Birge for helping with timing, and to my wife Julie for taking some great photos of the race (she has them posted on Facebook on the US Canoe Association / Indiana Division page on 6.17.23).
Photo below is by Julie Birge.
Steve
Results:
C1 Man
1st Paul Kane 1:38:12
2nd Dwight Walker 1:43:04
3rd Skeet Craig 1:49:32
4th Dan Bidwell 1:58:44
5th Garry Hill 2:27:30
C2 Pro Boat Men
1st Steve Floria / Sam Welch 1:46:50
C2 Aluminum
1st George Tinsley / Hilman Culp Jr 2:06:53
2nd Michelle Huss / Jason Anderson 2:23:16
OC1 Man
1st Steven Horney 1:45:31
K1 Open
1st Larry Swift 1:31:52 (fastest time of the day)
2nd Jon Henderson 1:31:55
3rd Kyle Wills 1:33:00
4th Brent Ernsberger 1:55:28
K1 Man Sea Kayak
1st Matt Conrad 1:42:04
2nd Roger Crisp 2:04:57
K1 Woman Sea Kayak
1st Vicki Tillotson 1:57:42
