North East Update

In the past couple months myself and Paul Twist have been traveling all over the Northeast hitting a couple of the classics. Beaver fest is like Mecca for paddlers in the Northeast, they travel from near and far to hit the one day release of the Moisher section of the Beaver River. After the Moisher and Eagle sections of the Beaver, Paul Twist and I met up with some of our favorite local paddlers, Michael H. Laflair IV and Uncle Jim "Hot Rod" Dobbins to paddle the Stone Valley Section of the Raquette. Here is the video.

Beaver and Raquette Video

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After the Beaver, it was time for Moose Fest. The Bottom section of the Moose is a classic Adirondack pool drop run with great drops. There is nothing like waking up in the morning and taking the hit at the bottom of Fowlersville Falls, a 40' slide. The Moose also includes Gorilla's sister, Magilla. Magilla is a huge ugly drop that just makes you cringe when you look at it. This year Michael H. Laflair IV was man enough to fire up this drop. Here is the video, which is a great peice of editing by Paul Twist.

Moose Fest 2007

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Be sure to look for our next post on Medina Falls, a perfect 40' vertical drop in Western New York.
Signing off for Team Riot Danny Doran and Paul Twist

Lockapalooza 2007 Follow Up

In the words of Borat, "Great Success". Lockapalooza had a huge turn out. Lock 32 white water park in Rochester, NY was packed with over 800 people and 50 competitors.


The competition was fierce in all divisions, youth, junior's, women's, and men's. All were battling for the gold, but more importantly the bragging rights. It is truly exciting to watch and be part of with probably the best group of under 16 year old kayakers in the Northeast. Combining slalom, boatercross, and freestyle events, Lockapalooza determines the best all around boater. The first place in each event received 5 points, 2nd place: 3 points, 3rd place: 1 point.


The freestyle was the most successful event with competitors from all over the world, an amazing sound system, and who can forget our awesome MC, Fergus Coffey. The freestyle consisted of a ten minute jam session where everyone showed off there most impressive tricks. The top 5 were then chosen from a carefully selected panel of judges. These judges then scored until there were 2 left. I (Danny Doran) was faced with some very tough competition and it came down to me and fellow Team Riot member Aaron Roney. We had a head-to-head battle for the title of "Rodeo Champion of the World" In the end I won the title by a slim margin.


Even at one of the worst water levels (but still good) some of the biggest tricks were being stuck by 12 year olds. Air flips, space godzillas, split wheels, and phonix monkeys were common tricks in the youth and junior divisions. The men's division consisted of these tricks and more. The men's division came down to a battle between local paddler, and member of Team Riot Paul Twist, and Team Dagger member, Tino Specht. It was quite a spechtical (pun intended) to see these two pro boaters go off. Tino was hitting loops, space godzillas, and maybe even a switchflip, while Paul was hitting rides with loops, phonix monkeys, cartwheels, and a mcnasty or two.



Overall Results:

Youth:
1st Place- Tyler Deets
2nd Place- Ciaran Brown
3rd Place- Gardy Webber

Juniors:
1st Place- Danny Doran
2nd Place- Aaron Roney
3rd Place- Chris "Sla" Laflair

Mens:
1st Place- Paul Twist
2nd Place-Tino Specht
3rd Place- Andy Cook

Womens:
1st Place- Jenna and Ruth
3rd Place- Amy Brown

Thanks to Norm Deets for the pictures.
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Check out the video made by Paul Twist

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Danny Doran and Paul Twist signing off for Team Riot