In spite of the initial threats of thunderstorms, or at least rain, the Bridge-to-Bridge race had quite a nice turnout. And those who came were rewarded with the deepest water I’ve ever seen on that river. Which also led to my personal selection of the wrong boat; instead of selecting an OC1 that could turn on a dime but isn’t too great in the shallows, I selected my other one that runs great in weeds and shallows, but takes roughly the distance of the Queen Mary to turn. This race always has weeds and shallows. Except this time; and that hurt when I had to make 3 bridge turns! Not that I was competitive anyway, but I can always pretend… We did have a few challenges Saturday, including a stronger current and headwinds the opposite direction, but mostly from humidity so thick you could almost swim through it. I’ll blame my slow time on the extra drag of the humid air.
We did, however, have some seriously competitive types among us, including Matt Meersman, known for winning some kind of minor Michigan race… Matt, with Jeff Poland, set the course record in the morning races, defeating the team of Ted Beatty and Austin Schwinn. Then Matt went on to set the fastest time of the day in the afternoon races, a new class record, and very close to the course record. Ted Beatty, who owns the overall course record, didn’t let Matt go unchallenged, as he really pushed him the whole course (Ted being back in his downriver boat, which he has long used to great effect in this race). Unfortunately for Ted, he couldn’t quite reel in Matt, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.
The Gilman’s reversed the race order, just to keep things from getting too mundane; Guy raced K1 Sea Kayak in the morning, then he joined with Sonja to run C2 in the afternoon. They were running pretty fast, too. We teased them that their speed went up notably when they paddled without arguing. 😉
Around 1:02 was the magic time for many of our faster paddlers; following Larry Swift’s rather “swift” 1:01:16, Jon Henderson, Bill Kanost, Paul Kane, and Andy Weeks are came in within 17 seconds of each other in the 1:02 time frame! Deb Kanost, Jeff Poland, and Patty Thornburg were all pretty close a few minutes later. After that, the Gilmans, Matt Conrad, myself, and Brent Ernsberger closed out the race, in that order. Roger Crisp was racing, but was taken out with cramping. He still took the over 80 class record.
With the initial bridge turn happening so close to the start, it’s always exciting to try to work through the boat jam that inevitably results. I came into the turn right behind Patty, who I think was behind Paul. Rounding the pylon, I bumped into the back of her canoe, but figuring it was helping us both as I was pushing the stern of her canoe around the turn and her boat was pulling the bow of my canoe, I let it ride for a bit. Ultimately Matt Meersman won the bridge turn award, given to the paddler who rounds the bridge and returns past the start location first.
Following the race festivities, several of us ventured to the Jaywalker Restaurant for some fine after-race paddler food and fellowship. Then we watched as the Gilmans roared off in their new-to-them Mustang GT. A great time was had by all, and I was even treated to seeing the electric Amish on the way home (a number of Amish men and ladies riding electric bikes, although they could have been Mennonites). Many thanks to Brent for a great race, and to Julie Birge, Tim Taylor, and Michele Ernsberger for their help with the race. Results are below.
Steve
From Brent: Special thanks to mother nature for a dry albeit humid race day. Also, to my timers: Tim Taylor, Julie Birge, and Michele Ernsberger.
Photo above is from Steve Horney and photo below is from Julie Birge.
Morning race
Men’s C2 Pro Boat Short course
Jeff Poland / Matt Meersman 39:40, course record
Austin Schwinn / Ted Beatty 41:20
Kayak
Guy Gilman 47:21
Noon Stampede Long Course
OC-1
Steve Horney 1:10.35
Downriver Kayak
Brent Ernsberger 1:11.33
Sea Kayak Woman
Deb Kanost 1:06.02
C-1 Woman
Patty Thornburg 1:06.52
Class course record
K-1 Open
Ted Beatty 57:59
Jon Henderson 1:02.23
C-2 Mixed
Sonja and Guy Gilman 1:07.01
Sea Kayak Man
Larry Swift 1:01.16
Paul Kane 1:02.35
Matt Conrad 1:09.21
Roger Crisp DNF
C-1 Man
Matt Meersman 56.26 (Class course record, note 11 seconds off overall Course record, held by Ted Beatty, sorry Matt 😞 )
Bill Kanost 1:02.30
Andy Weeks 1:02.40
Jeff Poland 1:06.44
