The 28th running of the Blackburn Challenge will happen this Saturday, July 19th 2014. If you are not familiar with the 20 mile open water race, and its rich history, please visit www.blackburnchallenge.com
A couple of years ago CARC (the Cape Ann Rowing Club, which hosts both the Blackburn Challenge and Essex River Race), created a Blackburn Hall of Fame to honor the top racers and contributors to this cornerstone event of the rowing and paddling community. As you may have see from list inductees on the web site, we had not yet elected a surfski racer into the Hall of Fame. Being a member of CARC, it was discussed back in February that the next Hall of Fame member should be a surfski racer. We came up with a short list of excellent candidates…next we needed to select the ‘first ballot’ inductee for 2014.
While a few surfski’s showed up at the Blackburn in the early 1990s, it was not until 1995 that surfskis started to make a real presence, with 8 participants that year. From then the surfski class has grown tremendously to be one of the largest, fastest and most exciting classes at the event. This year we will have 59 racers in surfskis (including 5 doubles and 8 women), our largest crowd by far.
The decision criteria for the first surfski racer into the Hall of Fame needed to be a top long term participant and performer, as well as an overall contributor to the growth of our sport. After looking at the last 22 years of results, decided it would only be fair to also include the very popular open cockpit boats that raced against the surfskis, namely the West Side Boats, that many of the top surfski paddlers raced in before moving to a surfski. Next we decided we needed a process to evaluate the performance of racers, and decide to use a point system that is used in many popular surfski races. 12 points would be awarded for first place, 11 points for second place and so forth…you get the idea. The points were awarded based on the overall finish for that year, regardless of which class (Surfski, Kayak Racing and HPK). As we built the top 25 table, you will see it became very obvious and quite unanimous who has been the top performing racer over the last 22 years. Interestingly, Joe Glickman has paddled a surfski in all 17 years he has raced in the Blackburn, coming in first place in 2000 and 2004. As you look down the list of names, you’ll see many great racers that Joe has competed with over the years, with a new or different top opponent every few years.
As mentioned above, the other attribute to the nomination is their overall contribution to our sport. Well with Glicker being the top performer over the last 20 years, this was a very easy decision. I don’t think you can find a person in the US, or globally for that matter, who races a surfski who has not read a paddling article or book by Joe, talked paddling or racing with Joe, or competed in a race with Joe – always willing to passionately talk to anyone about our sport, generating lots of excitement and energy.
Glicker cross the finish line at 2011 Blackburn
As most folks know, Joe is currently battling a very difficult illness which has not allowed him to train and race at his normal top level this year, but we are all excited that he will be racing in a surfski double this Saturday with his good friend Oscar Chalupsky. This will be Joe’s 18th Blackburn (all in a surfski) and 17th in a row. Joe is extremely excited to be racing this weekend and looks forward to see all his great friends, and continue to show his tremendous support of the Blackburn Challenge. We all look forward to seeing Glicker back in his single surfski next year battling the latest top performers. Congratulations Glicker on your election into the Blackburn Challenge Hall of Fame!
~Chris
The Cape Ann Rowing Club
