by Wesley Echols & Tim Dwyer

Tim’s Take:
It was a dark and stormy . . . race. The strong N winds whipped, the rain dashed and the currents streamed but the boats just crawled along at just over 6 kts over this twisty, semi-flatwater race of 10 miles. Tom Kerr, Wesley Echols, Chris Chappell and Ken Cooper were in surfskis, Corey Lancaster, Tim Dwyer were in ICF K-1's and Mark Ceconi was in his EFT fast sea kayak. Razz Bregenhoj, a professional sailor, grew up paddling in Denmark and is on his way to renewing his speed and power in his Nelo Razor.

Corey took an early lead and led most of the way about 2 minutes ahead. The 1st pack, pulled by Wesley, was followed by Ken, Chris, Tom and Tim, who were sticking together like taffy. When Papa Duck Wesley slowed, we all slowed, when he turned, we all turned, and when he stopped to scratch his nose . . . well we all just slowed down. Even in these tough economic times nobody wanted the job of pulling. Given the choppy conditions Wesley had wisely switched out of his ICF Tor to his ski at the last minute and was able to hammer on mile after mile. I trailed at the end of this drafting train trying various wash riding attempts and never quite finding a groove in the erratic chop. I felt like a piglet trying to find an available teat while the rest were feeding mightily on Wesley's pulling. I was ultimately dropped at mile 5 and labored on my own trying to claw my back into the action. Hearing my kids yelling, "Go, Daddy!" at mile 7 gave a boost to that effort.

With about 3 miles to go, Corey was still in the lead but the pack had splintered, with none other than Wesley pulling a tenacious Ken, with Chris and Tom having fallen back a bit. Corey passed the daymarker turn, perhaps to check out the mighty storm waves at the mouth of the Narrow River, allowing Wesley to round the turn in the lead. In the dash for the finish all had taken various lines, some staying in deeper water, some in shallow water but opting for the shorter distance, all having to ‘choose their poison’ into a stiff headwind and shallow suckwater for the last mile. Wesley still held the lead while being furiously chased by Ken, Tom, Chris, and Tim for a dramatic five way cluster finish. With a supreme effort, Wesley managed to come out on top! He’s off to a great start this season! Mark, a paddler to be reckoned with, had a back injury which limited his participation.

Most improved paddler awards go to Tom Kerr and Chris Chappell who gave impressive efforts and were in the hunt right to the end.

Wesley’s Perspective:

Today’s training race looked like a carbon copy of last year’s: cold, windy, raw, and overcast. Tom Kerr and Mark Ceconi traveled from Connecticut while Ken Cooper, Cory Lancaster, Chris Chappell make the trek from the Boston area. Razz Bregenhoj, Tim Dwyer, and I represented the local paddlers; a small turnout but a very competitive field. Most of us decided to paddle our skis versus our K1’s, with the exception of Cory and Tim. I had my Tor all ready to go, but changed to a ski at the last moment.

The course was 9.75 miles with a mixture of shallows and ever changing currents. I think everyone wanted the race to be over at mile 8 because the last couple of miles into the wind and the shallows took some determination. Cory led the entire race up until the last pole turn that he missed. Cory was easily ahead of the pack by 3-4 minutes in his Mohawk and deserves a lot of credit to paddle a very fast, but twitchy K1 in today’s conditions. Ken and I started yelling at Cory once we saw he missed the turn pole at mile 8.

The preceding 8 miles was a study in wash riding. To my surprise I was leading the chase pack. Cory was ahead from the start and nobody was catching him unless he missed a turn (!), capsized, etc. The train was pretty much kept intact until the 8 mile turning pole in this order: Me, Ken, Chris, Tom. Tim was not too far back trying to ride the wash but found it tough going in his K1.

At about the 5 mile mark, Chris threw in an erg-like interval and surged ahead of Ken and me. I jumped on Chris’s wake and could not believe he was going that fast in his 33lb V10 Sport (Remember the rest of us were in 22 to 28 lb high performance skis or K1’s…) I was praying for him to relent, but he kept it up for a good 5 minutes or so, and then the train resumed again in the previous order. Chris put in an amazing effort to finish only seconds behind us in only his second race in that ski. All that erging (indoor rowing) can’t be hurting! Who says you need a kayak erg??????? To further the point, Tom also put in a great effort and proved ramping up the off season training by a factor of 500 is paying HUGE dividends. Tom was looking super fit and determined to see all that hard work pay off, which it did. We took notice!

Tim, undeterred by paddling his Typhoon on a sloppy day, found that extra high gear he is so well noted for, and despite being back in the pack for the whole race, made a manly surge with a mile to go and passed the field to nip second. Ken was looking super smooth as usual. I think he was enjoying a hard effort, blowing the cobwebs out after a long winter. Mark, despite a nagging injury, paddled for 6 miles before deciding the effort was enough for today with the ROTC only a few weeks away. Raz enjoyed meeting some of the other paddlers and despite limited paddling time, nevertheless enjoyed himself. The common theme for the training race was a great effort on all our parts. Everyone came away with the feeling of accomplishment from a very hard paddle and enjoyed the post race conversation over beesr and fish and chips at a local tavern.

Thanks to everyone for coming!!

Final Results*:

1. Wesley Echols	Huki S1X Special
2. Tim Dwyer	Kirton Typhoon
3. Ken Cooper	Huki S1X
4. Tom Kerr	Mako Pro
5. Chris Chappell	Epic V10 Sport
6. Cory Lancaster	VanDusen Mohawk
(Cory missed turn buoy, ran aground, 3-4 minutes ahead at this point)
7. Razz Bregenhoj	Nelo Razor
8. Mark Ceconi	EFT (6 Mile Course)

*1st five places were within 45 seconds of each other. 1:32:17 was winning time.

Visit The 2008 Narrow River Race Summary and Course information