Lions Paws for Support Race 7.22.23

Lions Paws for Support Paddlefest aka Fish Lake Race 7.22.23

Emily outdid herself once again organizing and running the Lions Paws for Support Paddlefest, also known to us as the Fish Lake Race. The sun was shining, axes were flying, burgers were frying, and music was in the air. And we were on the water, preparing to duke it out – paddler style! No one remembered to grab an axe on the way in, so the winners had to be decided in classic race style. On the plus side, there was a lot less gore…

The first race of the day was the longer (4 mile) USCA race. Starting in the channel between Upper and Lower Fish Lakes and in front of the frenzied crowds, we charged into Upper Fish Lake, into the large pond on the end, around a buoy, back into Upper Fish Lake (running along the opposite shore), before passing thru the channel into Lower Fish Lake. After circumnavigating Lower Fish Lake, it was a sprint to the finish!

At the start of the 1^st race, I headed out fairly fast, but was soon overtaken by a gang of K1 Open paddlers. Pieter took the lead among the group early on, holding it for the entire race, but behind him Paul, Jon, and Larry were in hard contention with each other for a good part of the race. Closer to the end Paul pulled ahead of Jon who managed to hold off Larry. Paul and Jon had a particularly close race, with Paul coming in just 5 seconds ahead of Jon.

A second cluster of paddlers formed as we entered Upper Fish Lake, with Matt, Brent, Liz, and Deb following me to the buoy turn. At the buoy my boat turned wide, but Deb, who was fourth in the line that followed, pulled of a spectacularly tight turn and pulled ahead of the whole group. Deb held that lead through most of the race, but Matt Conrad edged her out by 3 seconds near the end! Brent was about a minute back. Liz Visser, however, took a solid lead over all the group and came in about half a minute ahead of Matt. Some very exciting racing among this “race within the race”.  As for me, I fell back after the buoy turn and lagged behind them all. I think I’m getting decrepit (shoulder pain reared its ugly head, made scarier by seeing Bill Kanost on the sidelines…) Roger then followed after me, but he still put in a very respectable time.

But wait! There was still one race left. Not to mention a fair to visit and food to eat. But first – it was “mano-a-mano” on the SUP’s, with me and my Savage River Needle vs. Larry Swift and his beautiful new woodstrip 14’ SUP he had recently finished. Larry’s boat definitely got the style points, with lots of attendees asking about it and commenting on how pretty it was.  This race was a shorter, 2 mile race over the first half of the course. At “Go!”, we headed down the channel and into Upper Fish Lake, running pretty much side by side. As we moved into the lake, I shortened my stroke a bit and increased the cadence, pulling ahead of Larry. Larry really worked his SUP hard, but I managed to hold him off through the race to the end (having an advantage with an 18.5’ board), arriving almost exactly a minute ahead. It was great having the competition this year!

There was one other race probably worth mentioning: after the SUP race, the festival held a recreational kayak race. I think this one should have been called the “Hold My Beer Race”; it was hilarious! These guys (and gals) in their short plastic kayaks, some smoking, were going all out, playing bumper boats, trash talking each other, and just having a less than serious blast!  I have no idea who won, but I think they all came away fully entertained.

Many thanks to Emily and the Lions Paws organization for a really wonderful event!

Steve

Results (USCA Paddlers)

1^st Race (4 mile)

K1 Man Sea Kayak
1^st Matt Conrad                38:09
2^nd Roger Crisp                  48:26

K1 Woman Sea Kayak
1^st Deb Kanost                   38:11

K1 Open Man
1^st Pieter Visser                 33:08 *Fastest overall
2^nd Paul Kane                     34:56
3^rd Jon Henderson            35:01
4^th Larry Swift                    36:15
5^th Brent Ernsberger         39:18

K1 Open Woman
1^st Liz Visser                       37:50

OC1
1^st Steven Horney             40:56

2^nd Race (2 mile)

SUP Unlimited
1^st Steven Horney             24:19
2^nd Larry Swift                   25:17