For the second time time in three years we have had to move the race venue due to a hurricane.  Hurricane Irene’s impending arrival forced Dan G.(race director) and  his crew to move the race to the alternative location of the Narrgansett Boat Club on the Seekonk River.  Just like two years ago the race went off without a hitch.   The superb organization by Dan and crew is just outstanding.  So a hearty thanks goes to everyone who helped with yesterday’s race and made it a success.

Borys Accepting First Place Winnings

What susprised me the most about the race was that everyone showed despite the gloomy forecast of Hurricane Irene.   Rob Mirlenbrink and Reid Hyle came up on Thursday from Florida.  Ed Joy got here from Hawaii.  Joe Glickman, Borys Markin and Sean Brennan made the drive from NY and NJ.   So the front end of race pack was in tact.  


Reid Accepting Second Place Winnings

Team Achilles had two doubles in the race. It was great to see Gary Williams, Robin Francis, Joe Traum and Ricardo Corral.  We had several walk ups that  included several local  surfski paddlers.  The core group of New England paddlers showed as well.  We had two surfski tandems including first time paddler tandem Andy Gallonio who paddled with Timmy Shields.  Mark and Sean paddled their double as well.  Mary Beth Gangloff made her debut in a surfski. Yeah for Mary Beth.  Kari Crowe also made the race so it is wonderful to have women paddling more skis.  Dave Thomas, co-owner and co-designer of Stellar Surfskis and Kayaks paddled his first race and got to meet a lot of the paddlers.  Dave provided the sponsorship money that gave the race legs to bring in the top paddlers on the East Coast. 

Team Achilles

The  nice thing about having a “bigger race” is that you get to meet paddlers from other parts of the country. I got to spend a day with Rob Milenbrink  and Reid Hyle. Rob plays an integral part in the Florida paddling scene organizing and promoting surfski, OC, and SUP events with his wife Karen. Both Rob and Karen are excellent paddlers having done endurance races such as the Watertribe Everglades Challenge. Reid Hyle has qualified for the International Canoe Federation Kayak (IFC) Marathon World Championships for four years, representing the US.  Reid mostly recently placed 18th at the US Surfski Championships with a time of 2:14:47. 

Reid, Ed and Sean

Just before the race, I met Borys Markin, who Reid knew from other international races.  Borys, a sprint racer from Ukraine competed in the early 2000’s where he won a Bronze Medal in the K-4, 200 meter event at the 2001 IFC Canoe World Championships.  I had seen Borys at the ROTC race where he crushed the record and we all wondered who he was. Now we know.  Boris also raced in the US Surfski Champs a few weeks ago and placed 32nd with a time of 2:22:45.  

Sean Brennan, a former US Sprint Team Member,  whom I had met two years ago at the Lighthouse to Lighthouse, has dominated the local scene with the second fastest time ever in this year’s Blackburn Challenge of 2:34: 24.  

These three top paddlers: Borys, Reid, Sean finished 1,2,3 in today’s race.  All three were awarded the prize money on behalf of Stellar.  Borys received $800.00 plus the hotspot of $250.00 donated by the Kayak Centre in Wickford, RI, Reid was awarded the $400.00 and Sean $300.00. 

A few minutes behind was Joe Glickman who traded places with Eric McNett in the standings from the Nahant Race a few weeks ago.  Ed Joy was a few minutes ahead of these guys.  Ed has the 4th fastest time ever in the Blackburn, 2:35:31 in 1998. You can see Ed had been on the leader board for a long time.  He just finished the Molokai Challenge this year and placed 19th with a time of 4:04:09 as a Master paddler.   A few places back Rob was nipped by Francisco Urena with Tim just off the pace.  Greg Lesher and I also had a dog fight in the end with Greg nipping me by a few seconds.  I chided Greg after the race, that this was the two seconds that I loss after he bumped me at mile 4 causing me to steer into Yan.  It pays to have friends in the race.  Chris, who has not paddled in a few weeks due to injury allowed me to hitch a ride to close the gap on Greg. 

Thanks to everyone for coming and making the race a success.  Next year will be bigger and better and on the Ocean!  ~ Wesley

Below are some great pics from Kevin.  Kevin took some wonder pics at Nahant also.

http://kevinklasman.zenfolio.com/p627517899

 

 

Rick Krementz Pic below- Outstanding Pics, Most of the pics are rowers but there are some superb ones of the top guys and most of us rounding the half way point.  Take the time to scroll through them.  There are over 800!!

 https://picasaweb.google.com/115888864886969717275/JamestownCounterRevolution

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click to View Photo Gallery from Race