Western MA double header race weekend!! 6/25 & 6/26

This week’s blog post will be a joint effort. I (Travis) got voted to write most of this week’s blog post because I had a pretty good weekend racing last week. Terese added in some tidbits of info along the way also.

Saturday we headed out to Charlemont Mass for the Deerfield River race.   The Deerfield is another home river for me.  I grew up, and my parents still live, about 25 minutes from the river.  I have been paddling on this river since I was a little kid.  I always look forward to racing down this river every summer.  Terese and I were racing together in preparation for the Downriver Nationals which will be held on part of the Deerfield course in a couple of weeks. 

We had an “incident” prior to the start.  I had to pee so I figured I would jump out on the shore and go.  When I went to step out of the boat I lost my balance and felt myself falling over the side of the boat.   In an attempt to save the ship I tried to jump out.  This didn’t work; I ended up flipping us over.  We were right next to shore and the race was a not starting for a bit so other than our pride taking a hit we would be fine.  Our heat started shortly thereafter and we were off.  We shot off the line right from the start and tried to keep a nice hard tempo, I think the extra adrenaline rush from the cool dip in the river might have helped with our explosive line speed.   The river level was up nice and high due to all the recent rain, that day the water was running at approx 2500 CFS compared to the normal 850 CFS.  We had an uneventful run, finishing with the fastest canoe time of the day in 34:16. Any run under 40 minutes is a good time during regular water levels.  This may be the fastest time I have ever had at this race, certainly the fastest time ever in a plastic recreational canoe.  When I was about 15 years old I raced with another junior male in a Whitewater XX (a very fast racing whitewater racing canoe) we had a similar time but I can’t remember exactly how fast it was. We dont have any photos from the Deerfield race since its tough to bring cameras with you and race and no one was with us who had a camera. You will just have to imagine the beautiful river.

We spent the night out in Western Mass at my sister and her husband’s place.  We had a great pizza at Roberto’s in Northampton, highly recommended!!!

Sunday we went to Jack’s NECKRA Race (great name) at Holyoke Rows.  Jones Ferry Boathouse (the actual name of the building where they store the rowing sculls) is a “green” rowing boathouse with great facilities on the Connecticut River. They have a beautiful spot right on the river and the building itself is very pretty to look at from the water. The roof of the facility is part of a government funded “greenroof project” where they have eight different varieties of sedum thriving happily on the slightly slopped roof tops.  Below is a photo of the roof from the race day, the plants almost looked like they were in bloom but it was tough to tell from the angle I was standing at. 



You can just see the plants on the roof in this shot





Solar panels on the portion of the roof that wasnt covered with plants

 I was racing with Del Cummings.  I have wanted to race with Del for years.  I have always thought our paddling style would mesh well.  Terese was racing with Jeff Defeo.  The course was a 9.5 mile double loop course on the Connecticut River (even though Jack said it was 8 miles we heard otherwise from paddlers with a GPS at the end of the race).  The gun went off and Del and I pulled away and cruised to a 2 minute victory over all the other canoes racing that day.  Terese and Jeff had a great race also holding off the Warner’s right at the finish line for a third place finish. The river was up nice with all the recent rains we have been having so the downstream section of the race was a quick ride and the upstream portion wasn’t so bad either with the shallows being deeper than normal for the Connecticut river this time of year. 

Connecticut River view from the Jones Ferry Boathouse



View of the start, yep its that white barrel out there in the middle of the river



Post race lunch/awards Jack and his family put on. The prize at this race, homemade maple syrup!!

Two races, two top finishes, it was a good weekend!  We are enjoying the shorter races.  I think they fit us better than the long stuff.  We have a few low key races over the next couple weeks before the Downriver Nationals on the Deerfield River.  Terese and I are looking for some revenge, in 2006 on the same course we were 4^th, a mere 8 seconds out of 1^st.  We are fit and optimistic about the challenge ahead of us this year. I also have secured a Mad River Screamer (A fast whitewater C-1) for solo race and a ringer for the Men’s race (Peter Heed).  It should be fun. Terese is planning an attempt at the woman’s C-1 championship as well.