The 26th Blackburn Challenge promises to be a particularly exciting race for the New England surfski community.  There’s a huge pre-registered field of 44 single HPKs and 7 double HPKs, nearly all of which are skis.  This will almost certainly be the largest collection of surfskis ever in New England, and probably on the entire east coast.  Throw in more than 60 other kayaks in the FSK and SK category (including 3 Achilles boats), 10 juggernaut OC-6’s, 13 paddleboards, and the usual varied collection of canoes and rowing craft, we’ll have a veritable armada in Gloucester this Saturday. 

Chris Chappell, SurfskiRacing, Finish 2010 Blackburn

 

Donna Lind, Race Committe, Making it all Happen!!

The HPK class is shaping up to be the most competitive since 2009, when Patrick Hemmens, Erik Borgnes, Don Kiesling, Ed Joy, and Cory Lancaster all broke 2:45 and finished within two and half minutes of one another (although the top 3 finishers ran the rarely attempted “long course” Blackburn due to a fog-induced navigational snafu).  This year we’ll have 3 of the best US surfskiers competing for the Blackburn crown – Borys Markin, Reid Hyle, and Dorian Wolter.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that last year’s winner, Sean Brennan, makes a last minute decision to also attend, but as yet, he’s not registered.

Mike McDonough Local Paddler

 

Start of Surski Class

Over the last year in New England, we’ve gotten to see what New Jersey resident Borys Markin can do.  Most recently, he demolished the field at the Essex River Race with an unbelievable time of 42:41 – shaving nearly 5 minutes off of the old HPK record.  Back in 2001, Borys was a bronze medalist in the ICF Sprint World Championship as a member of a Ukrainian K-4 team.  Reid Hyle is up from Florida for his second New England race (after last year’s Jamestown Counter Revolution).  Back in May, he just about lapped the field while winning the River City Challenge in Jacksonville.  Reid has competed in the ICF Marathon World Championships on four occasions.  Dorian Wolter will be coming from Ohio for his first surfski race in New England.  He is a former member of the German wild-water team, who recently finished in the top 10 at the US Surfski Championships in San Francisco.

Wesley,Bill K, Chris, Jay Appleton

I can’t find any record of Borys, Reid, and Dorian all participating in the same race, but there have been notable head-to-head matches between each pair of the group.  In last year’s Jamestown Counter Revolution, Borys edged out Reid at the finish in flatwater conditions (with a 6 second gap).  In the 2011 US Surfski Championship, Dorian finished 9th to Reid’s 18th (as the 2nd and 8th US finishers, respectively).  And in the 2010 Mayor’s Cup,Dorian finished just over a minute ahead of Borys (in a nearly 4 hour race).  These results would seem to show a slight edge for Dorian, but I think it’s fair to say that any of these guys could walk away with the win.

Dorian Walters at US Surfskichamps

 

Greg Lesher at BB finish

 

Beata at Essex, Rich K(Race director Blackburn)

Of course, there are plenty of other phenomenal paddlers in the race as well.  The ageless Joe Glickman has finished in the top five in an astounding 14 of the 15 Blackburns he’s competed in (with the lone exception being the 2009 race mentioned above, where he finished 6th).

Bill K(Huki) in foreground at BB start

Brian Heath (in a racing kayak) has had nearly as impressive a run – top five finishes in 9 of the last 10 Blackburns he’s competed in.  Hugh Pritchard (also in a racing kayak) and Wesley Echols have already demonstrated the ability to break the 2:50 mark, while I’m betting that at least Francisco Urena, Joe Shaw (returning to the Blackburn for the first time since he won it in an ICF K-1 in 1994), and Flavio Costa are threats to do the same.  Last year’s 1st and 3rd place finishers from the FSK class are in HPK skis this year, so it’ll be fun to see what Dave Furniss (who broke 3:00 last year) and Rick Carter can do in faster boats.  In addition to the regular cast of locals (and not-so-locals, but still regulars), there are a few wildcard entrants with limited HPK racing records, but who could definitely mix things up – two examples being Chris Hipgrave (former US national wildwater champion and experienced kayak adventurer) and young Jesse Lishchuk (member of the US 2012 junior national marathon K-2 team). 

Brian Heath, Always Top finisher in BB.

In women’s HPK, Beata Cseke has a shot at becoming only the second woman to break the 3:00 mark (with Alex McLain’s 2:57:44 standing as the Blackburn record), but she’ll need to fend off Kari Crowe.  In HPK doubles, look for Tim Dwyer  and Eric McNett (both of whom have broken 2:50 in singles) to challenge the double’s record of 2:38:40, set last year by Tim and Mike Tracy.  A good portion of the FSK division will be paddling in super-stable skis, including our erstwhile HPK friends Bill Kuklinski and Jim Gilligan, as well as two-time FSK winner Roger Gocking.  It’ll be interesting to see if skis will end up dominating that class.  In FSK doubles, watch for Tucker Lindquist and Sarah Everston to challenge the record in that category (as well as give a few HPK doubles a run for their money).  With three-time SK winner Tucker out of the class, the SK division is wide open this year.  Perhaps last year’s runner up and this year’s Essex winner John Karoff will take the stand. 

Reid Hyle Top Contender

Unfortunately, it seems pretty likely that the 2012 race will be slower overall than those of the past few years.  HPKs will be starting at around 8:30, which is just a few minutes from high tide.  Furthermore, the tidal high-to-low swing on Saturday will be less than 6 feet (as compared to a max swing of more than 11 feet).  Unlike the last couple of years, we won’t enjoy a strong tidal ebb at our backs through most of the Annisquam River and out around Halibut Point to Straitsmouth.  And coming into Gloucester Harbor, we’ll be working against the ebb.  That being said, in similar tidal conditions in 2008, Eric Borgnes still managed to clock a very respectable 2:39:43.

Mike Tracy Local Paddler

 With 3 days left until the race, you don’t want to put too much credence in the weather forecast for Saturday, but the current forecast is for a mostly cloudy day reaching into the high 80’s.  Winds are predicted to be 5 to 10 knots out of the southwest.  Such conditions aren’t particularly conducive to a fast race – that extended open-water stretch after passing by Milk Island (southwest, natch) will probably seem a couple minutes longer than interminable, with confused conditions awaiting paddlers after finally making landfall. 

Boris Markin, top contender

Regardless of the tides and weather, the Blackburn is always the most exciting race of the season for me.  I’ve literally been dreaming about it the last couple of nights (I’m hoping that they’re not actually going to require us to dress like chimney sweeps).  With a remarkably strong and deep HPK field, I’m anticipating that this year’s race will be particularly thrilling.

Mark, Richard,Francisco