Lord of the Fork Race October 25, 2008

2007 Lord of the Fork Race Results-35 racers

2007-11-01T19:34:00.000-07:00

Eric H captures a great photo of Jules Campbell hot on the heels of John Grace in the new Liquidlogic race boat during the Lord of the Fork race!! Green Gnarrows race organizer Jason Hale getting the wavesport race boat dialed in for the narrows race!
Race Results
1. Toby MacDermott Remix 100% 10:27
2. Geoff Calhoun T-Canyon 10:28
3. Matt Walker T-Slalom 10:43
4. Adam Herzog Remix 100% 10:44
5. Bryan Kirk WS Excel 10:48
6. Eric Henrickson Mirage 10:51
6. John Grace Remix 100% 10:51
8. Julian Campbell Tornado 10:53
9. Jay Ditty New Wave 10:57 C-1
10. Eric Chance Tornado 11:09
11. Jason Hale WS Momentum 11:10
12. Howard Tidwell Spirit 11:13 (swam the finish line!)
13. Caleb Paquette Tornado 11:19
13. Andrew Austell Corsica 11:19
15. Paul Stamilio Tornado 11:20
16. Jay Moffatt Tornado 11:25
17. Isaac Ludwig Dancer 11:27
18. Eric Strittmater Tornado 11:33
19. Gifford Sanders Crossfire 11:49
20. Luke Hopkins Dancer 11:52
21. Brian Jennings New Wave Quest 12:04
22. Nate Helms Tornado bitch 12:06
23. Robin Betz Remix 100% 12:09 W
24. Will Lyons Cascade 12:10 C-1
25. Clay Warren Response 12:12
26. Jason Parker Tornado 12:28
27. Matt Delong Vortex 12:34
28. Brian Mattingly Jefe Grande 13:02
28. Mark Miller Burn 13:02
30. Jon Crain Jefe 13:05
31. Brad Buddenburg Crossfire 13:08
32. Josh Burton Habitat 80 13:13
33. Kirk Williams Tornado 13:18 Hand-paddle
34. Matt Rudolph Jefe 14:46
35. Katie Buddenburg Mamba 17:33 W (w/ a brief interruption)

Bryan Kirk and Geoff Calhoun making super quick work of the tough middle line at climax
The 2007 Lord of the Fork Race saw more racers this year than ever before, and a very fast field. If you didn’t finish in less than 12 minutes, you didn’t even make the top 20! We had 35 racers in all, beautiful weather and fall colors, and a huge group providing rescue support and filming video (mostly the local KY crowd). A big surprise this year was the arrival of the new LL race boat, although the boat doesn’t matter near as much as the driver. Toby MacDermott proved once again that he is the man to beat on this river. This is 3 wins in a row, and his fastest time yet. 10:27 puts him only 10 seconds away from Tommy Hilleke’s fastest time several years ago. (The race record is still 9:53 in a Wavehopper by Chris Hipgrave in ‘96). The margin for the win this year was only 1 second. Geoff Calhoun showed up and blitzed the course, only his second weekend riding this river. Watch out for him next year, he doesn’t like second place! Third place was Matt Walker in his retro T-Slalom and an even older spray skirt. I think the boat stays dry only because the water doesn’t have time to leak in. This was his personal record as well, at 10:43, edging out Adam Herzog by 1 second. Rounding out the top 5 was Bryan Kirk(shown above). Robin Betz was once again the fastest woman on the course, even with a little speedbump in Maze. She holds the women’s course record and is now the women’s champ 4 years running. Katie Buddenburg made a strong showing as well, and was much faster than her time suggests. Her run was interrupted in the last 50 yards by a rude awakening against a rock wall. Such is life, I’m sure we’ll see her again next year with an eye for the win. Kirk Williams was the fastest (and only) hand paddler this year, somehow guiding the Tornado through the course with expert skill. The C-1 record finally fell. I’ve been chasing Andy Bridge’s time of 11:23 for the past few years, and this year the flatwater and upriver training sessions finally paid off. My time of 10:57 was just barely in the top 10 overall though. The boat is over 25 years old, very fragile glass, and I didn’t show it any mercy on the rocky lines. Like Neil Young says, it’s better to burn out than to fade away. Will Lyons was also looking fast in his Cascade. (And both of us are always fearing that Bernie is going to enter the race and show us how its really done.) One of our veteran racers had a spectacular wreck just above the finish line, broaching at the lip of the Box, falling in backwards, into the wall, and then swam like hell for the finish. And of course it’s all on film! I’m sure there’s more stories out there from the race, lots of new faces and some personal rivalries that are always fun to watch. Thanks again to all our rescue support from the BWA and the local folks. Barry Grimes and John Mello are putting together a video from all the combined footage, stay tuned for that at this year’s NPFF in Lexington. Thanks also to Matt Delong for helping us with the start times, Whitewater Warehouse for one of the trophies, Eric Henrickson for the bibs, and Teamscum for some extra prizes. The party was great once again, with a nice fireworks display, a shoeless drunk running through the fire, kick-ass bluegrass music and some belly-dancing. Results are listed below, and on the website soon. See you next year!

Jay

2006 Lord of the Fork Race Results-Epic high water

2007-10-29T18:13:00.000-07:00

Be careful what you ask for. In 2006, we decided to move the race to the last release weekend, with the idea that we'd have some extra water for the long boats (1100 cfs). Mother nature delivered way more than expected though, dumping a couple inches of rain over the entire Appalachians the night before the race. Creeks were high from the Smokies all the way up to NY state. The Russell Fork raged at 4500 cfs on Saturday, and only 2 strong boaters chose to run the gorge. Adam and DJ may have bitten off the highest level ever run through the gorge, but I'll defer to some of the old-timers on this one. The rest of us split between Little Stoney and Grassy Creeks, both of them screaming tight bobsled runs. The race was postponed until Sunday.
The river was a bit more manageable Sunday morning, just under 2500 cfs. We did a quick trip through the gorge (with a portage at Top Drop). One hour before the scheduled race time, we stood looking at the top hole in Triple Drop, watching the terrible recirculation, and hoping that the dam operators had cut back just enough to drop the level for the race. It was a big gamble. If the level held, the top hole would stop almost anyone, even some of the best race boaters. If the lever dropped back to 1400, the top hole would let us through. We had no way of communicating with the dam operators, just a good guess based on all the combined knowledge of the local water level gurus (Steve and Gerald and friends). We decided to go for it and have a race.
Our plan worked. the level was just over 1400, the sun was shining, and the top hole allowed all to pass. A lot of the local crowd helped to set safety at the more notorious hazards, but no major carnage occurred. Toby blew everyone away, Robin almost caught her own record, a local favorite hit the number 2 spot, and a rivalry of Louisvillians may have been born. One man swam across the finish line, trying to prove that his initials have nothing to do with DNF.
There is no greater feeling than cruising alone at top speed on class 5 water through one of the most magnificient sculptured rock gorges in the world. It's always a relief landing off the boof at Climax, thankful the race is over again this year, and knowing that there's only 365 training days left until the next one.
jay

1.Toby MacDermott: 10:32
2. Matt Walker: 10:59
3. Adam Herzog 11:17 (tie)
3. James McLeod: 11:17 (tie)
5. Eric Henrickson: 11:20
6. Jay Ditty: 11:30 (C-1)
7. Robin Betz: 11:50 (W)
8. Griffin Sanders: 11:56
9. Dave Finney: 12:01
10. Eric Nies 12:35 (tie)
10. Willy Witt: 12:35 (tie)
12. Brian Mattingly: 13:08
13. Jon Craine: 13:29

Past Overall Russell Fork Race Champions!

2007-10-19T08:43:00.000-07:00

Jeff Snyder won the first Russell Fork race in 1995 with a time of 10:52 just beating eventual race champion and record time holder Chris Hipgrave. Since the first race there have been six overall champions, five C1 champs, and five female winners!

Toby MacDermott 2005, 2006, 2007 (10:27 LiquidLogic Remix100%)

David Jacobson 2005 (10:51 Prijon Tornado)

Tommy Hilleke 2002, 2003, 2004 (10:17 Quest)

Chris Hipgrave 1996-1999, 2001 (09:53 course record-Wavehopper)

Danny Inman 2000 (11:00)

Jeff Snyder 1995 (10:52 Wavehopper)

Past Female race champs!

2007-10-18T09:52:00.000-07:00

The Russell Fork race has seen five of the top female kayakers in the world taking home the trophy. Here Robin Betz charges for the finish line for her win in 2007!

Female winners:

Robin Betz 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 (11:42 course record female Tornado)

Nikki Kelly 2003 (12:20)

Buffy Bailey (12:34) 2000

Shannon Carroll 1998 (12:10)

Amy Brown 1997 (12:00)

C1 Russell Fork race champs!

2007-10-17T10:23:00.000-07:00

Above C1 race champ Jay Ditty enjoys a post race moment and Will Lyons cuts for the finish line! Since the first Russell Fork race the C1 presence has been felt with three time Russell Fork Race champ and US wildwater racing champion Andy Bridge. Andy set the C1 course record in 1998 with a time of 11:23 finishing 4th overall that year. Recently, Jay Ditty (pictures above) has held the title 2004-2007 and broke the race record with a time of 10:57 in 2007. A special mention should be made to Steve Frazer and Paul Fantetti who both race the open canoes-Quite impressive! Here are the C1 race champs:

Jay Ditty 2001, 2004-2007 (10:57 C1 race record new wave glass)

Yves Narduzzi 2003 (11:37)

Sam Davis 2002 (11:30)

Harry Field 2000 (13:35)

Steve Frazer 1999 (14:45 OC-1 quite impressive)

Andy Bridge 1995, 1997, 1998 (Response)

Russell Fork Gorge Extreme Race October 27, 2007

2007-08-20T17:59:00.000-07:00

Come the last weekend in October some of the best paddlers in the country will descend into the mountains of Breaks Interstate Park to test their skills in one of the country's most extreme kayaking races! Professional and amateurs alike will attempt to maneuver their 11 foot race boats thru some of the most treacherous whitewater on the east coast. The race usually starts around 3pm in the flatwater pool above the rapid know as "lets make a deal". There will be plenty of groups meeting at Ratliff hole saturday morning to hike into the gorge to watch the race! So come on out and enjoy the race and the festival in Elkhorn city following the race! For more information on the Russell Fork Gorge and surrounding area please visit Steve Ruth's website (http://www.russellfork.info/).

Before you race, read this

2007-07-29T19:17:00.000-07:00

Racer's Acknowledgement and Assumption of Risk:
There is no official or unofficial organization to this event. The tradition of the race has been an informal meeting among friends to see who is the fastest person through the Russell Fork Gorge. It is a celebration of the wild spirit of the river, downriver racing in its purest form. It is a free event in the truest since of the word: no entry fee, no boat-length classes, and no sponsors. The fastest boat from the start pool a few hundred yards above Towers to the rocks just below Climax wins. There are only two rules: you must stop to help if you see another boater in trouble, and you must give a donation of some sort to the winner. The race usually occurs around 3pm on the Saturday of the RF Rendezvous (meet around 2:15 at Garden Hole).

Here's the waiver (modified just a bit from the original):
I understand that the Russell Fork Gorge is extremely hazardous, and that rescue may be impossible in the event of an accident. I will be paddling this Class V river alone during the race, with no expectation of rescue support along the entire course. I am familiar with the Russell Fork Gorge and it’s many deadly features, including Towers, Fist, Maze, Triple Drop, El Horrendo, and Climax, among others. I know that many skilled paddlers have died in this gorge,
I understand that there are no race organizers, just volunteers who try to help keep it safe, and make no monetary profit.
If I see another racer in trouble, I will stop to assist them, and I have the necessary rescue experience to do so.
I know that many people view this race as foolhardy. Nonetheless, and regardless of how stupid I am for participating in this activity, I willingly accept all responsibility for what happens to me. I am risking death or serious and/or permanent bodily injury. It is a risk. I accept it. They warned me and I did it anyway.

Russell Fork Rendezvous and Festival!!!!

2007-07-23T11:06:00.000-07:00

Don't paddle Class V! No problem come on down to the Breaks Interstate Park and enjoy the fall colors! The Breaks park offers various hiking trails, beautiful overlooks, and even some mountain biking with great views of the fall foliage. For more info visit the Breaks Park website (http://www.breakspark.com/). Interested in class II, III, or IV whitewater then paddle the lower (classII-shown above) or the upper (classIII-IV) Russell Fork then come join the crowds to watch the Lord of the Fork Race at Triple drop and El Horendo. Then join us afterward for some good music, a bonfire, and good people at this years Russell Fork Rendezvous in Elkhorn City, KY. For more info and happenings please visit (http://www.russellfork.info/).