Shawn Burke
Event Co-chair

The 2nd annual Great Stone Dam Classic canoe & kayak race was held on Sunday, September 11th on the Merrimack River in Lawrence Mass. Despite high water attendance grew this year to 104 paddlers, including 72 racers on our long course, 22 recreational racers on the short course, and 10 youth in our 1k Kid’s Race. Paddlers came from across Massachusetts, as well as Vermont, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. They included a number of past National Champions; five new course records were set. After the race racers enjoyed a barbecue, prizes, and camaraderie on a gorgeous early-Fall day.

All told, 30 racing kayaks – a mix of ICF, unlimited, surfski, ICF K-2, and touring hulls – lined up for the first starting wave. The 8.6-mile long course consisted of two loops, a 6.6-mile out-and-back that turned around Pine Island, followed by a triangular 2-mile loop with one downstream turning buoy and two upstream buoys that spanned the river.

Michael Melnikov, Greg Lesher and Mike McDonough
Photo Courtesy of Donna Lind 

Hugh Pritchard was off the line fast, and pulled away from the pack behind Bill Baker’s and David Vandorpe’s K-2. Bill and David made a course error on their first downstream leg, aiming to turn around the wrong downstream buoy. At that point Hugh sprinted to the lead and held it for the balance of the race, finishing in a new course record time of 1:05:30. Baker and Vandorpe set a course record as well for K-2. Event Co-chair Francisco Urena began separating from the pack on his first downstream leg, and pulled away to finish second; all of this despite being knocked off his ‘ski when a sudden gust of wind caused one of the large inflated turn buoys to take a swing at him. Francisco is having a tremendous – and eventful – year of racing.

Graeme Rocket and Ted Van Dusen
Photo Courtesy of Donna Lind 

Ted Van Dusen and Graeme Rockett duked it out over the entire course, with Rockett finally pulling away after the final buoy turn. Surfski paddlers Michael Melnikov, Mike McDonough and Greg Lesher challenged each other in a pack over the entire course. Skip Ciccarelli successfully defended his K-1 touring title. And in one of the closest finishes of the day, Terry Vital and Ellen Minzner finished 1-2 in K-1 over the short course, a 3.5-mile out-and-back loop to the Rte. 93 bridge. It was Terry’s first NECKRA race, and rower Ellen’s first kayak race.

The C-2 course record was obliterated by Adam Gelinas and Matt King. Adam and Matt put the hammer down right from the start and didn’t let up, finishing in 1:09:53. The biggest C-2 pack of the day was comprised of Nick Lyesiuk and Keith Mildren, Kari Crowe and Peter Heed, Tom and Kristen Warner, and Tom Ellsworth and Emma Ross. Each boat in turn pushed the pace around Pine Island, with Nick and Keith holding a half-length lead at the first downstream turn. Coming into the turn Kari and Peter, who had been stern waking Tom and Emma, made a quick cut to the inside, slingshotting into a tie as as their hulls matched pace through the turn. Tom and Kristen were right on their stern as all four C-2s made for hard river right, digging their way upstream using whatever tiny pockets of slackwater they could find, “jungle paddling” through overhanging tree branches.

Kari Crowe, Peter Heed, Tom Ellsworth and Emma Ross
Photo Courtesy of David Williams, www.willarts.com

The jungle then reached out and snatched Nick Lyesiuk from the bow. As Nick told me later, “I thought the branch would bend.” A brief swim dropped Nick and Keith to the back of the four-boat pack. Kari and Peter continued to push the pace with Tom and Emma, turning the final buoy side-by-side, neither team giving an inch. It was a dash to the finish, with Tom and Emma snatching the win over the final fifty yards with a furious sprint. Tom and Kristen finished close behind, with Nick and Keith just behind.

Jack Morse looked relaxed as he defended his C-1 title. Last year he and John Kazimierczyk finished the course a half boat length apart in a furious finishing sprint; this year Kaz paddled mixed C-2. Rising paddler Steve Miller was second in C-2, followed by Bob Allen. A nice C-1 pack comprised of Seth Miller, Kevin Boss, and Jamie Doucette worked together over the entire course, and finished in that order.

After completion of the long and short course races we had 10 Youth paddlers in our 1k Kids’ Race. The challenge this year was to paddle from the starting line to a point along river right where lily pads grew, snatch a lily pad, and bring it back to the finish. I look forward to seeing some of these fine young paddlers one day on our longer courses.

The race raised money for our hosts, the Greater Lawrence Community Boating Program, and the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Sponsoring partner donations covered almost all of our costs. And finally, our generous paddlers also donated over 100 lb. of food to the Lazarus House food pantry.

Please visit our race website, www.greatstonedam.com, for complete race results and nearly 1,000 photos taken at this year’s event. We’re penciled in September 9th for next year’s race. Hope to see you there!   ~Shawn