Winners

Greg Lesher and Mary Beth Dominate SurfskiRacing.com Series

Greg made sure that he was going to take the top spot in the series for 2016. He garnered the max points(12) allowed on all but 4 races where he scored 11 points in those races. His point total for the best 6 races was 72, 12 points over second place finisher Eric Costanzo and 14 over third place finisher Jan Lupinski. Greg also raced every race but one and still had enough energy to write about it and video it.

Jan Lupinski(3rd), Greg Lesher(Winner), Eric Costanzo(2nd)

Greg is known for his capacity to endure long workouts, including a 42,195 meter on a Concept 2 Indoor Rowing Erg. Think about that, 3 hours on an erg! Greg also is ranked in 2016, 22 in the USA for his age group in the 2000 meters where he clocked a 6:30 at the World Indoor Rowing Championships in Boston. Witnessing Greg’s performance, I suspect by adding a mirror beside his erg he can easily go under 6:30 this year.

As good as Greg is, he also took a lesson from Sean Rice when Sean was here this summer. So I predict if Greg can stay injury free and incorporate the tips from Sean, he will reign again as the top New England paddler. The series rules are that you must do at least 6 races to qualify. Greg also bought a flat water ski since the series is made up of flat water races and ocean races. The V14 certainly helped his flat water times once he got accustomed to it. So hard work, capacity for short recovery times, and having two skis, a flat water ski and ocean ski, ensured Greg captured a well deserved #1 for 2016 SurfskiRacing.com Series.

Greg sprinting to the finish of the 2016 Blackburn

Greg sprinting a 2nd place finish of the 2016 Blackburn

Among top competition in the bigger races like the Blackburn, East Coast Championship, and USCA Championship, Greg placed 2nd, 6th, and 5th respectively. A job well done and the best race season ever for Greg.

Runner up, Eric Costanzo edge out Jan Lupinski by 2 points. Eric worked harder than ever this year, improved his technique, and switched to also to a combination of a flat water ski, V14 and V10 for ocean races. Eric like Jan, made a Herculean effort in just getting to the races by driving 3 to 5 hours to most of the races and then exhausted, driving back home, only to do it all over again in two weeks. Since Borys Markin left for Hawaii a few years ago, these three top paddlers have consistently been at the top of the standings. Jan has also made it to the Gorge Downwind Surfski Championships this year and has raced the US Surfski Championships several times.

Jan at the 2016 Blackburn

Mary Beth Gangloff finished 1st place for the second year in a row in the Women’s Division out pacing 2nd Place finisher Leslie Chappell. Mary Beth also won the East Coast Surfski Champs this year as well.