{"id":14703,"date":"2013-04-27T11:29:16","date_gmt":"2013-04-27T11:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/?p=14703"},"modified":"2013-04-27T11:30:20","modified_gmt":"2013-04-27T11:30:20","slug":"the-new-haven-race-grassroots-creek-racing-at-its-finest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/the-new-haven-race-grassroots-creek-racing-at-its-finest\/","title":{"rendered":"The New Haven Race…Grassroots Creek Racing At It’s Finest"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"936670_4789221963646_1812737464_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This Year I finally had the great pleasure of participating in the annual New Haven River Race near Bristol, Vermont. \u00c2\u00a0While I’ve been make the commute across Lake Champlain from New York to paddle the New Haven “Ledges” section for several years, this was the first chance I’ve had to make it to the race since they started holding it in 2009. \u00c2\u00a0As temperatures rose into the 70’s (That’s Fahrenheit) the day before, melting all the snow and bringing the river up to a fantastic flow on Friday evening, it was clear that I had chosen a good year to attend. \u00c2\u00a0It was a great opportunity to see so many of the great folks that I hadn’t seen since Moose Fest. and do some fantastic paddling.<\/p>\n

\"\u00c2\u00a9<\/a><\/p>\n

A huge thank you goes out to Scott Martin and Nick Gottlieb. \u00c2\u00a0They took a ton of photos and shared them graciously. \u00c2\u00a0If you get a chance visit their sites: Scott Martin Images<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0and\u00c2\u00a0Nicholas Gottlieb.com<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\u00c2\u00a9<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\u00c2\u00a9<\/a><\/p>\n

At the competitors meeting, held on the side of the river early Saturday morning, it was clear the flow was too high to hold a safe race but the river was dropping fast. \u00c2\u00a0Racers and organizers agreed to hold a sprint race above the major rapids for the morning, and then see what the flow was like for a possible afternoon run.<\/p>\n

\"\u00c2\u00a9<\/a>

You’re gonna shorten the race to where???<\/p><\/div>\n

Everyone had fun racing the thirty second sprint course that included a great start ramp constructed by the organizers. \u00c2\u00a0We wrapped the sprint up around noon at which point myself and some other very eager racers took a run down the still “juicy” full race course. \u00c2\u00a0We all agreed that the course was difficult, but reasonable to hold a race. \u00c2\u00a0After much debate amongst the organizers and competitors, the race was on!!!<\/p>\n

\"\u00c2\u00a9<\/a><\/p>\n

I was the first racer off the starting ramp and almost immediately began to have a sloppy run. \u00c2\u00a0I bumped rocks and almost came to a complete stop in a rapid called “Secret Compartment.” I was paddling hard and definitely in the moment. \u00c2\u00a0Towards the end of the four minute fourty-five second course there is a rapid called “Rooster Tail” where I had a little trouble in my practice run earlier. \u00c2\u00a0Well…It got me again. \u00c2\u00a0I flipped at the top and made a really slow roll before taking a few strokes before the final waterfall called toaster. \u00c2\u00a0I sprinted for the finish line with my heart about to beat out of my chest.<\/p>\n

\"Matt<\/a><\/p>\n

I knew I had a lackluster run, and the group of talented Vermonters paddling behind me would probably keep me off the podium (which they did) but you still couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. \u00c2\u00a0I love racing my kayak down difficult whitewater. \u00c2\u00a0There is something about putting the bib on, and paddling harder than would otherwise be reasonable that is so damn fun regardless of the result.<\/p>\n

\"\u00c2\u00a9<\/a><\/p>\n

It was so good to see a lot of the faces I hadn’t seen since September, catch-up, and talk about our plans for the great season ahead of us. \u00c2\u00a0A big thanks to the group of guys that poured their hearts and souls into organizing the New Haven Race this year. \u00c2\u00a0I am sure the decision making was stressful, but from where I sit, it was definitely worth it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This Year I finally had the great pleasure of participating in the annual New Haven River Race near Bristol, Vermont. \u00c2\u00a0While I’ve been make the commute across Lake Champlain from New York to paddle the New Haven “Ledges” section for several years, this was the first chance I’ve had to make it to the race … <\/p>\n

Continue reading »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-paddler-lifestyle-articles"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9tk9G-3P9","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14703"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14703\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14742,"href":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14703\/revisions\/14742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}