East Race Throwdown Results!

Hey Everyone,

Last Saturday we had a great time at East Race. Those of you who weren’t there missed out!

We started off the festivities with some playboating in rodeo hole

I don’t know why, but everyone was feeling kinda shy and didn’t want to subscribe to a particular group… so there were no “advanced” or “beginner” boaters… just boaters. I guess people wanted to let the scores speak for themselves.  Well, here they are:

Playboating Champs:
1^st – Jeff – 59pts
2^nd – Kem (“Frogger”) – 45 pts
3^rd – Conner – 43pts
4^th – Bernie – 39pts
5^th – Jason – 34pts
6^th – Dan – 33pts
7^th – Tim – 21pts
8^th – Cory – 20pts
9^th – Diana – 14 pts

 

After some fun in the hole we all hiked up to the top for a free-for-all boatercross (my favorite event).  Things got pretty intense halfway down the course as a skirt got pulled! It was an accident I’m sure   – Check out the Video: Boatercross at East Race

Congrats to Bernie for taking first place.

After the fun on the river we headed off to Barnaby’s for some pizza and beer

A big thanks to all the sponsors who donated the sweet prizes: Astral, Smith Optics, Immersion Research, Mountain Khakis, and Jackson Kayak.

Also a big thanks to Jeff and Bernie for helping me judge, Jason for setting up the boatercross gates, and Suzanne for taking some sweet pics. (check out more of Suzanne’s work at http://www.asianpearproductions.com/portfolio3.html )

Hope everyone had fun, Cheers!

-Bob

Chicago Throwdown Results

Anyone who doesn't think midwest boaters are badass –doesn’t know sh!t (literally).

South bend had storms the few days before the throwdown, and any of you familiar with the area know what this can do to the water quality on the St. Joe river... Pair that with the 42deg air temperature yesterday, and you’d think no one would want to get in their boats. Far from it! We had 9 boaters in attendance for our very first throwdown, representing Indiana, Illinois and Ontario. Hell Yeah!

We had 6 folks competing in the Intermediate/Advanced arena… and 3 in the beginner group

Ryan D. took first place, disproving the myth than East race is too shallow to throw a loop… and was happy to walk home with a $110 gift card for Chaco.

 

 Kevin M. was the champion of split-wheels taking second place, and walking home with a Smith Optics Beanie.

 

Adrian O. showed us what it takes pull off some solid cartwheels, coming in at third place and taking home a sweet Chaco belt.



 

In our beginner class we had Jason in First, Henry in second, and Kevin in third.    

Jeff M. was on a mission to rack up style points, and earned the title of “King of style” for the day with his paddle-twirl-window-shade combo. I think there’s now a patent pending.

Being one of the judges, I felt it was fitting to show everyone how *not* to playboat… and I think I pulled it off wonderfully.



  After the rodeo comp we had some prizes leftover, so we decided to have a little impromptu boatercross. I gave everyone the option of doing 3 rounds, or having a super-crazy-all-9-boats-at-once-insane-boatercross. The unanimous answer was “do you really have to ask”?  I really wish I had a picture of this… because it was fricking awesome. I could have stayed on the side of the river to document the mayhem, but then we would have been one boat short for a “super-crazy-all-9-boats-at-once-insane-boatercross” so I had no choice but to join in myself. Bernie, our resident Canadian, was the champion of the chaos for this event.

Thanks for everyone for participating despite the chilly temp... without all of you this wouldn't have been any fun.

Also, a big thanks to our umbrella holders, time keeper, our Judges (Jeff, Adrian and Kevin) and Henry and Mary for taking a ton of pictures! You guys rock.

And one more thanks... To all our sponsors, for contributing those super sweet prizes!

I'm looking forward to next throwdown, hope you are too!
-Bob