On May 4th Team Riot co-hosted a race in Charlotte NC with the US National Whitewater Center. Starting the evening off we had each competitor run an individual time trial through the competition channel. Coming out on top was John Angermeier in a Riot Magnum.
Time Trial Results
1:11 John Angermeier
1:16 Daniel "Talley" Stewart
1:18 Will Berkley
1:22 Andy Travis
1:31 Adam Seacrest
1:33 Joshua Parker
1:50 Brently Metcalf
1:51 Ashley Watts
2:03 Clinton Koontz
Using the finishing times from the time trial we set the heats for the head 2 head finals. After running three heats of three in the prelims and advancing the top placer of each to the finals we had John, Daniel and Will battling it out. Again, John victored over the pack in his Riot Magnum and took home the gold, the glory and the bragging rights. John also won a pair of Mion Flood Tide shoes for his victories. We also ran a consolation heat to hash out 5th-9th place. Andy Travis took it away. Likely the face mask was a big intimidating factor. Later he celebrated with a flaming version of "ice ice baby" during the Karaoke Tour.
Head 2 Head Results
1 John Angermeier
2 Daniel "Talley" Stewart
3 Will Berkley
4 Andy Travis
5 Ashley Watts
6 Adam Seacrest
7 Brently Metcalf
8 Clinton Koontz
9 Joshua Parker
On the podium from left to right are our winners, John (1st), Daniel (2nd) and Will (3rd).
We created a final race for the night called Charlotte's Web. Our team and Sarah decided to jump in for this one. The race started at the top pond running all the way through the wilderness channel, up the conveyor belt, through the race channel and finished at an island in the bottom pond. This was a really tough but really fun race for all. I'd personally like to thank Will and Daniel for running into me every time I tried to pass. Ahh, the spirit of the head 2 head race. Supposedly, Silsbee had the win in his grasp and was spun out by Gragtmans about five feet from the finish. Don't mess with Canada... I suppose.
Charlotte's Web Race Results
1 Chris Gragtmans
2 Cooper Lambla
3 Nathan Silsbee
4 Sarah Harper
5 Spencer Cooke
6 Daniel "Talley" Stewart
* not sure from here out. someone email me if they know.
Then, ladies and gents, things got a little squirrelly. Yes, we broke out the Karaoke machine. I'll let the video do the talking.
Thanks to the Mecklenburg Regional Paddlers mrponline.org for showing up and making it a great event. Not only did the Charlotte locals light up the race course but they tackled the karaoke machine like nobody's business.
Here is the Riot crew and Sarah Harper. Big thanks to Sarah for organizing a fun race series and to Garrett Bryant for the unconditional love and couches to sleep on.
Two days later Diamond Brand hosted the first ever attainment races at the ledges park on the French Broad River in Asheville. Organized by James Trombley, this event was added as part of the already popular, growing and annual Mt Sports Festival. Thanks to Jon Leidel of www.jonleidel.com for the use of the photographs.
If you have never attained in a kayak it is something to experience. Attaining is almost a different form of play boating. I've never done a whole lot of it myself but I understand that a lot of people use attainments as resistance training for downriver races. The ledges on the French Broad happen to be a Green Race training ground for a lot of folks.
This was me struggling through one of six attainments of the day. Let me say that my body was very unhappy after these races. Though quite fun, this race whipped me up and down. Not only were the competitors tough but this is a hard competition anyway. I will have to practice next time. I got a motivating compliment from James which was, "I've never seen you look like you were trying so hard," which to me means, "you need to practice." Thanks James, I might practice next time... or maybe I'll just go fishing with you again. The point is that Chris, Toby and Chris were quite impressive out there, and fast.
There were three classes in the race which were short, long and glass/high performance. Most everyone races all three classes. They ran a time trial for each class then took the top placers to a head to head final. This shot shows the first and hardest drop of the course.
Here's the starting point.
This was about half the folks who turned out for the event. It was a good solid group and I hope to see even more people turn out next year.
This fella I did not know. I think his name is Leki and he was apparently a former US Slalom team member, possibly olympic competitor. I don't remember the exact info I was told about him. He was really fast anyway.
Robin Betz won the women's division.
Ross Ryan and James Trombley (left to right) presenting Chris Gragtmans with the 1st place prize for winning the long boat and short boat time trials and both head 2 head finals. Toby MacDermott (far right) won the high performance category with a sneaky time saving technique on the first drop.
Other racers included Nathan Silsbee, Chris Gallaway, Caleb Coaplen, Keith Sprinkle and others.
Good wholesome fun with good people on a good day. Good golly.
Check out the video once again if you please.
Later,
Spencer Cooke, Team Riot
1 comment:
Watching and hearing S. Harper and G. Bryant is priceless.
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