EVENT: NWCC 2012 EFL Race Day - EXPLORING ELEMENTS

4/21/12

I made the big trip up from Cali back to the NW in order to attend one of the most fun local kayak gatherings of the year, the Northwest Creek Comp. This is a 2 day event with a different race each day. On Saturday everyone races on the gorge section of the East Fork of the Lewis River and on Sunday everyone shifts over to Canyon Creek. The free camping all weekend right at Sunset Falls on the EFL, the free Ninkasi beer, amazing Next Adventure BBQ, super cheap entry ($15 all-inclusive!!!), event shirt, great custom awards, Slippery When Wet Film Premier and a well sponsored raffle all combine to make this one of the best kayak gatherings in the country. A huge thanks goes out to the MANY people who make this event happen, the MANY sponsors and to Luke Spencer the event organizer. This year we were blessed with warmth, sunshine and medium-high water levels. All of this added up to over 100 racers, 100’s of spectators and an amazing time had by all!

FDVan — Adventure Sportsmobile sighting:)

EFLMeeting — EFL Morning Competitors Meeting

EFLMeetingJimDaveLuke — Timer Jim, Safety "Stash" Dave and Head Honcho Luke

EFLSunsetSuzanHollingsworth — Susan Hollingsworth letting her hair fly off Sunset Falls

EFLSunsetNateHerbeck — Nate Herbeck catching some Vitamin D mid air

EFLSunsetLukeSpencer2 — Luke Spencer flying his Detox off Sunset Falls

EFLSunsetPaulKuthe — Paul Kuthe putting the landing gear down

EFLSunsetDuo — Its Duo time at Sunset Falls!

BBQLine — Long line for the AMAZING BBQ from chef Ian and Next Adventure

Official EFL Race Results:

K1 Men Pro-

AwardsLukeDarren — Darren Albright sweeping the Sat. events: K-1 Men Pro, K-1 Long, Mass Start.

1 Darren Albright 8:07

2 Louis Geltman 8:09

3 Tao Berman 8:16

K-1 Long-

1 Darren Albright 7:46

2 Louis Geltman 7:48

3 Michael Gottlieb 8:16

K-1 Men Expert-

1 Scott Waidelich 8:33

2 Alex Podolak 8:37

3 Matt King 8:37

K-1 Women Pro-

1 Kim Russell 8:44

2 Christie Glissmeyer 9:20

3 Heather Herbeck 9:26

K-1 Women Expert-

1 Anna Herring 9:50

2 Helen Wheat 9:56

3 Roberta Grant 10:01

K-1 Fun-

1 Michael Freeman 9:25

2 Jack Cressuell 9:27

3 Brandon James 9:30

IK-

1 Riley Baxter 10:27

2 Scott Michael 11:09

3 Greg Babikoff 14:51

Raft-

1 Dan 10:34

2 Karl 11:11

3 Tim 11:16

I managed to pull out a 10th place overall with a short boat (7th in Pro Men), thanks Next Adventure for the use of the Prijon Pure XL, and 7th place overall with a long boat (4th in K-1 Long), thanks Andy Maser for the use of the Dagger Green Boat. Overall I felt good about the performance since I’m very out of shape and paddled pretty unfamiliar boats. In my long boat class I also had to go deep in one of the main holes on the course and do a full 360 to avoid another boater that was getting worked in said hole, which I’m sure cost me well over 6 sec. All part of racing and I look forward to more races this season and coming back for a faster time on the EFL next year.

AwardsBryanDeekLuke — Luke thanks NA for their support and Deek thanks Luke for 7yrs of organizing.

–Full Coverage of Sunday’s race on Canyon Creek

-Full Results on the Official Event Website: http://www.northwestcreekcomp.blogspot.com/

-Highlight film and event coverage by Suzan Hollingsworth, Paul Kuthe, and Bryon Dorr at Canoe & Kayak Magazine Online.

-For more coverage and a little history on the event check out Paul Kuthe’s event report.