Three Rivers Fest Race 7.8.23

Three Rivers Festival Canoe & Kayak Races Report 7.8.23

Saturday wasn’t looking promising for the TRF race; initial predictions were for rain from 9 to 4, with early afternoon thunderstorms. My wife was recovering from a medical procedure, and wouldn’t be able to come and help. And several of our regular paddlers were out for injuries or other reasons (Hilman Culp called and said he and George wouldn’t likely make it, because he was waiting on a window controller so he could raise the window on his car – not wanting to make the trip in the rain without a window that would roll up!) Julie Birge asked Roger on the way over “what will you do if you’re the only one?”  Well, not to worry. God must have been smiling on our little race, because amazing things happened: rains cleared before the races began, leaving us with a comfortable race day; Hilman’s controller arrived in the mail shortly after we talked Friday late afternoon (and worked!); and we had a number of newer / not our usual paddlers show to bring attendance up to 14!  Plus Julie Birge, Matt Conrad’s parents, and Bill Kanost were all there and available to help (many thanks to you all!!!)  Adding to the fun, Don Walls from Arkansas happened to be working a few hours away and feeling desperate for a race, so he showed up (and promptly blew the field away with a smoking 6.9 mph average!)

Don Walls was paddling a River Hawk OC1, as was I (new boat to me). Don paddled with a canoe paddle (the very unique Quickblade paddle), while I opted for a kayak paddle and classified myself at K1 Open. We had 4 paddlers in Sea kayaks (actually 5, but Brent Ernsberger classified himself in K1 Open), Lori Schaffer brought her Blackwater C1 and became our sole C1 paddler, 2 sets of C2 Aluminum paddlers (Jason and Michelle are local and previously paddled at Lori’s race in June), and a C2 Pro Boat team of Steve & Sam, a local team preparing for their first Au Sable race.

As we were lining up under the bridge, Julie sent us off before I got into position, but that left me with a running start anyway. Don Walls immediately took the lead, with me following him in second place, Matt Conrad waking me, and John Christensen hanging with us off to the side, with the others behind. At the first major bend, Don started to go off into a channel that actually doesn’t go anywhere, but quickly saw his mistake and corrected his course to stay on the river. Rats! J Don and I then held our respective positions to the turn bridge, although Don had pulled to a decisive lead early on. I had seen Don reporting 7 mph averages on 10K paddles, so I knew he was going to be tough. Behind me Matt had fallen off, but John was right on my tail. Starting into the turn, my boat had a longer turn radius and John pulled in a little tighter. We were both briefly stymied by some logs in the way, but as we cleared the turn John put it into overdrive and gradually pulled away. Meanwhile I think my motor was giving it all I had. Moving down stream (not that there was any detectable current) and about halfway back, I heard the team of Steve and Sam approaching, with rhythmic “huts!” and discussions of the optimal line. So making use of a good thing, I tagged onto their wake for a bit, but didn’t hold it for long. And that’s the order in which we finished.  But bigger stories were still to follow.

A minute and a half after I came in, Deb Kanost came hauling along in her new Nelo surf ski. Apparently this boat is a great match for Deb (and she’s really developed some great skill), as she put the hurt on all the male Sea Kayak paddlers except John. Matt and Brent followed Deb. I understand Brent was more or less just enjoying the paddle initially, exploring different sides of the river, but then he got serious and gave Matt some serious competition, although Matt prevailed in the end. Roger followed a few minutes later. I brought a new paddle for Roger, as he figured all the “go fast” had long since worn off his old paddle. Apparently Roger knew of which he spoke, as he put in quite a good time!  And then we witnessed an exciting competition in the C2 Aluminum category – something we haven’t seen much of lately – as Jason and Michelle edged out George and Hilman by 15 seconds!  Last but definitely not least, Lori arrived in her C1. Lori hasn’t had much time at all to practice, and the C1 is not her usual boat, but she figured it would be fun and she was going to be a good sport however it turned out. And she still won 1^st in class!

Many thanks to all who braved the potential weather to come out and have some racing fun! Roger, Julie, Lori, and I then headed over to Bagger Dave’s for a post-race lunch of the finest quality.

Steve

Results

C1 Woman
1^st Lori Schaffer                1:53:16

Sea Kayak Woman
1^st Deb Kanost    1:23:57

Sea Kayak Man
1^st John Christensen         1:18:19
2^nd Matt Conrad 1:24:51
3^rd Roger Crisp                  1:33:57

K1 Open
1^st Steven Horney             1:22:23
2^nd Brent Ernsberger        1:25:10

C2 Aluminum
1^st Jason Anderson / Michelle Huss-Ford                  1:40:37
2^nd George Tinsley / Hilman Culp Jr.                          1:40:52

C2 Pro Boat
1^st Steve Florio / Sam Welch         1:21:09

OC-1
1^st Don Walls      1:09:18 (1^st overall)