Green Race Report

Once again the Green Race has come and gone. It's hard to believe, actually. Last year I attended my first Green Race, but paddled in and set safety at Gorilla then raced in the head-to-head race after the racers had finished coming through. I had finally run the Green less than a month before the race last year, and though I was already running the Big Three, I didn't feel good about paddling class V alone. I have to admit I was on the fence about racing last year. Now a year has passed and though I still am not completely at ease about running hard whitewater unassisted, I spent more than enough time paddling and learning the Green to know it well enough to how to run it fast and clean.

My training for the race didn't really begin until around the beginning of August, when I had just finished racing in the Wildwater Junior World Championships. I hunted down a Prijon Tornado and immediately started running the Green with some speed.

Now for the race..

As always, there was a lot of speculation from members of the paddling community preceding the Green Race about the current low water levels and who the favorite picks to win were. A change I noticed from past years, though, is how quiet it was from most people who were definitely racing as well as from boat companies. With Dagger's introduction of Pat Keller's Green Boat and Wavesport's Momentum by Robert Peerson last year, I think most people kind of expected Liquidlogic to follow suit with their own race boat. The way Shane Benedict responded is a little surprising - instead of introducing a completely new design for the race, Shane modeled his boat, the Remix 100, aka the "Hungee" after one of his newly released river-running designs, the Remix 79. There is a lot of material on Shane's website about the development of the boat - check it out there. Dagger and Wavesport were also busy in October, as their designers slaved away after hours to refine and perfect their race boats. Not only would there be three boats designed specifically for this race, but there would be a larger volume of this new breed of race boats. All told, there were eight "Hungee's", three Green Boats, and three Momentums in the race this year in addition to the multitude of Tornados, Corsicas, and Crossfires of yesteryear.

The week of the race, LVM was the bearer of good news. Jason Hale managed to secure some extra water for the race - as well as two practice days in advance. The Green has run 6", as low as a 100% release can be for most of the year, but what we ended up racing on was a 60% release from each tube at the dam, equating to 120% in the river, or a beautiful 10" day. Not only would racing be safer for each competitor, but with more water, the times would be slightly faster as well. Very exciting for sure!

As I headed to Chris Harjes' house in Asheville on Thursday night after school, I was filled with anticipation of my first Green Race. What I had worked and trained for since last year was coming up. Was I really ready? How would the extra water effect me after growing accustomed to bouncing off wet rocks the whole way down the river? Would the crowd of spectators at Gorilla get in my head and cause me to lose focus? Luckily I had a secret weapon for the race. In addition to the Tornado I borrowed from my Wildwater coach, Chris Hipgrave, Jim Hager and Dinver McClure from Pyranha Kayaks sent me the new 8'6", 83 gallon Everest to race. Judging from the looks of the boat, it looked like a fantastic extreme racing kayak but I was a little nervous about switching from my medium Burn to a much bigger boat the day before a huge race. I outfitted the boat Thursday night and trained in it at the Green the next morning. What an awesome creeker!!! It's very fast, it rides high in the water and stays on top of things well but isn't too big to move around, the hull is slick like no other which lets you move around wherever you want and coupled with the soft edges, exploit any of the river's features. Any questions I had about racing were answered Friday before the race. I think I adjusted well to a new boat and having water in the river for a change allowing me to head into Saturday morning excited but focused.

The morning of the race I was informed by many people that I was the winner of the Calcutta the night before. I had no idea what the Calcutta was until someone explained to me that it is basically a betting party where people put down money on who they think has a good chance in the race. New racers get a handicap of some sort, which is deducted from their race time. As it turned out, someone bet a lot of money on me because of the significant handicap I had as a first time Green Racer. Nothing like a little pressure, huh? No matter, Jason Hale fired up all the racers to tangle with the Monkey with one of his famous pre-race speeches in the parking lot. It was when we lined our boats up for the racers' parking lot photo that I found out that the most Green racers in the history of the race were present (140 or so). Soon after I shouldered a boat and began dragging my other one down the hill to the put-in.

Gorilla before and after the generous 120% release courtesy of Duke Power
Photos by Casey Jones

"My heart is racing. My breathing is rapid. I can see the Notch. I hear the crowd. I feel my pulse in my throat. I know I am going fast but the race is not over. You win by hammering all the way. I feel sweat all over my body... I wake up. This is my nightly dream."
-Wildman

Go Left and Die - Photo by Judy Ranelli

12:23 was my long boat start time. Like I had done many times in the months preceding the race, I started off smooth and deliberately, picking off each move carefully. I was driving the Tornado fast until I made a mistake that caused me to accidentally eddy out on the left at the bottom of Zwick's. I lost a lot of time getting the boat turned around but got back up to speed and made up some time before Gorilla. The first thing I noticed as I exited Chief was how many people were there watching the race. Over the sounds of "Saferwaters" by Chevelle on my H2o Audio headphones, I heard the crowd roar as I flew the big boat off the flake in the center of Pencil Sharpener and stomp it down hard. This was it. The single toughest, scariest move on the whole Green. I lined up and stuck it but as I rounded the corner to the main drop of Gorilla, I noticed to my dismay that I had just lost a contact lens and would have to run several more class V rapids without it. Before I knew it, I was boofing off the pad. Over the roar of water around me, I heard the crowd cheer again. I slammed through the Speed Trap and continued sprinting toward the finish. By 12:28, the Tornado was stashed and I was hiking upriver to make my short boat run.

Finding the perfect line in Gorilla. My missing contact is in there somewhere.
Photo by Jim Wei

Looking a little addled in Nies's Pieces - Photo by Brad Roberts

I was a little nervous about racing again with only one contact but I had a word with myself as I hiked upriver and remembered that this was only the short boat race and that it didn't count like the long boat race does. Even more so than on my first run, I focused on being smooth and hitting my lines. I managed to loosen up quite a bit and have a lot of fun on this run. I believe I ran Go Left without touching the rock on this run, I hit the Flying Squirrel boof in Pencil Sharpener just right, I managed to get another big cheer out of the crowd by stomping down at the Gorilla, and I stuck my lines on the slides perfectly.

Scream Machine - Photo by Casey Jones

Hiking back up to Gorilla for the second time I was all smiles. When I got there, both of my parents, my brother, and my good friend Erinn, were there to greet me, which made my first Green Race that much more special. I decided against racing head-to-head this year as a result of my lost contact lens but I got to watch the rest of the race with my family and friends. After the race, Harjes and I decided against stashing our long boats in the gorge and getting them later, so I headed downstream, did a Southern Cross at Sunshine with Jared Seiler, then boogied to the takeout with Harjes. We turned around and headed back upstream into the gorge via the Green Cove Trail. There was a little bushwhacking in there as well to cut off a couple of miles on the Pulliam Creek Trail, but before long we were back at the pool below Rapid Transit getting in our long boats and headed to awards at Woody's house.

Long Boats:

Andrew Holcombe	Dagger Green	Long K1	04:27	1
Pat Keller	Dagger Green	Long K1	04:28	2
Geoff Calhoun	Dagger Green	Long K1	04:31	3
Chris Gragtmans	Dagger Green	Long K1	04:34	4
Toby MacDermott	Liquidlogic Remix 100	Long K1	04:34	4
Tommy Hilleke	Liquidlogic Remix 100	Long K1	04:37	6
Bo Wallace	Prijon Tornado	Long K1	04:41	7
John Grace	Liquidlogic Remix 100	Long K1	04:44	8
Jules Campbell	Liquidlogic Remix 100	Long K1	04:44	8
Adam Herzog	Liquidlogic Remix 100	Long K1	04:48	10
Billy Murphy	Liquidlogic Remix 100	Long K1	04:48	10
Nathan Silsbee	Wave Sport Momentum	Long K1	04:55	12
Chris Harjes	Wave Sport Momentum	Long K1	04:55	12
Shane Benedict	Liquidlogic Remix 100	Long K1	04:55	12
Jason Hale	Wave Sport Momentum	Long K1	04:57	15
Fergus Coffey	Perception Corsica Matrix	Long K1	04:57	15
Billy Jones	Prijon Tornado	Long K1	04:58	17
Drew Duval	Dagger Green	Long K1	04:59	18
Riley Cathcart	Prijon Tornado	Long K1	04:59	18
Rob Tompkins	Prijon T-Canyon	Long K1	05:00	20
Dave Hepp	Dagger Cascade	Long C1	05:03	21
Chan Jones	Prijon Tornado	Long K1	05:04	22
Eric Chance	Prijon Tornado	Long K1	05:04	22
Caleb Coaplen	Prijon Tornado	Long K1	05:06	24
Will Lyons	Dagger Cascade	Long C1	05:08	25
Paul Stamilio	Prijon Tornado	Long K1	05:18	26
Amos Shuman	Prijon Tornado	Long K1	05:19	27
Mefford Williams	Perception Pirouette	Long K1	05:20	28
Adam Bixby	Prijon Tornado	Long K1	05:21	29
Andy Dodson	Perception Corsica S	Long K1	05:22	30
Robin Betz	Liquidlogic Remix 100	Long K1W	05:23	31
Dustin Marquart	Prijon Tornado	Long K1	05:23	31
Lizzy English	Dagger Green	Long K1W	05:25	33
Keith Sprinkle	Prijon Tornado	Long K1HP	05:27	34
Robert Peerson	Wave Sport Momentum	Long K1	05:28	35
Ben Stookesberry	Perception Corsica	Long K1	05:33	36
Dylan Bruce	Wave Sport Momentum	Long K1	05:33	36
Daniel Windham	Prijon Tornado	Long K1	05:34	38
Chris Roberts	Wave Sport Momentum	Long K1	05:36	39
Taft Sibley	Perception Corsica S	Long K1	05:36	39
Brent Meadows	Perception Overflow	Long K1	05:38	41
Robert Bone	Perception Overflow	Long K1	05:39	42
Will Selle	Perception Overflow	Long K1	05:39	42
Adriene Levknecht	Liquidlogic Remix 100	Long K1W	05:44	44
Jesse Wilensky	Prijon T-Canyon	Long K1	05:45	45
Jay Moffat	Prijon Tornado	Long K1	05:46	46
Adam Secrest	Perception Corsica Matrix	Long K1HP	05:48	47
Elijah Smith	Perception Corsica	Long K1	05:52	48
Jeff West	Prijon Tornado	Long K1	05:54	49
Jeb Hall	Prijon Tornado	Long K1	06:00	50
Wilson Bell	Perception Pirouette	Long K1	06:07	51
Kirk Williams	Prijon Tornado	Long K1HP	06:12	52
Bill Clipper	Prijon Tornado	Long K1HP	06:24	53
Shannon Carrol	Pyranha Mountain 300	Long K1W	06:28	54
Sam Smiley	Perception Corsica S	Long K1	06:33	55
Jason Beakes	Wave Sport Momentum	Long K1	06:45	56
Katie Hilleke	Prijon T-Canyon	Long K1W	18:57	57
Austin Rathman	Dagger Green	Long K1	DNF	58

Short Boats:

Pat Keller	Dagger Nomad 8.5	Short K1	04:40	1
Andrew Holcombe	Dagger Nomad 8.5	Short K1	04:52	2
Geoff Calhoun	Dagger Nomad 8.5	Short K1	04:56	3
Jared Seiler	Pyranha Burn M	Short K1	04:59	4
Drew Duval	Dagger Nomad 8.5	Short K1	04:59	4
Jakobus Stenglein	Riot Magnum	Short K1	05:01	6
Clay Wright	Jackson Super Hero	Short K1	05:05	7
Chan Jones	Pyranha Everest	Short K1	05:05	7
Nick Urquhart	Pyranha Everest	Short K1	05:07	9
Fabian Doerfler	Wave Sport Habitat 80	Short K1	05:07	9
Bryan Kirk	Wave Sport Habitat 80	Short K1	05:08	11
David Fusilli	Pyranha Burn L	Short K1	05:08	11
Billy Jones	Pyranha Everest	Short K1	05:10	13
Brian Knight	Liquidlogic Gus	Short K1	05:10	13
Brian Douglass	Pyranha Burn L	Short K1	05:11	15
Paul Stamilio	Liquidlogic Gus	Short K1HP	05:12	16
Graham Seiler	Pyranha Everest	Short K1	05:14	17
Spencer Cooke	Riot Magnum	Short K1	05:16	18
Yonton Mehler	Liquidlogic Remix 59	Short K1	05:17	19
Adam Bixby	Drago Rossi Critical Mass	Short K1	05:17	19
Jared Leon	Liquidlogic Remix 59	Short K1	05:18	21
Paul Stamilio	Liquidlogic Gus	Short K1	05:18	21
Shane Benedict	Liquidlogic Remix 79	Short K1	05:18	21
Matt Fithian	Bliss-Stick Mystic	Short K1	05:20	24
Nathan Silsbee	Riot Magnum	Short K1	05:20	24
Nate Bahlenger	Pyranha Burn L	Short K1	05:21	26
Jonathan Shannon	Wave Sport Habitat 80	Short K1	05:21	26
Andy Maser	Dagger Nomad 8.5	Short K1	05:22	28
Sam Drevo	Liquidlogic Jefe Grande	Short K1	05:25	29
James Kodaras	Dagger Nomad 8.5	Short K1	05:27	30
Ben Stookesberry	Jackson Mega Rocker	Short K1	05:27	30
Mefford Williams	Liquidlogic Jefe Grande	Short K1	05:29	32
Jeremy Laucks	Pyranha Burn M	Short K1	05:29	32
James Greenbaum	Dagger Nomad 8.5	Short K1	05:31	34
Corey Volt	Dagger Nomad 8.5	Short K1	05:31	34
Jeremy Pou	Liquidlogic Jefe	Short K1	05:32	36
Adam Craig	Liquidlogic Remix 69	Short K1	05:36	37
Dylan Bruce	Pyranha Burn L	Short K1	05:37	38
Kelsey Thompson	Wave Sport Habitat 80	Short K1	05:39	39
Chris Bucksey	Jackson Rocker 2007	Short K1	05:41	40
Mark Bowman	Prijon Hercules	Short K1	05:45	41
Josh Lerner	Liquidlogic Jefe	Short K1	05:47	42
Chris Gallaway	Dagger Nomad 8.5	Short K1	05:49	43
Adriene Levknecht	Liquidlogic Remix 59	Short K1W	05:50	44
Shannon Carrol	Pyranha Burn L	Short K1W	05:50	44
Mark Miller	Pyranha Burn M	Short K1	05:51	46
Matias Nunez	Wave Sport Habitat 80	Short K1	05:51	46
Gareth Tate	Liquidlogic Jefe	Short K1	05:53	48
Luke Holcombe	Liquidlogic Gus	Short K1	05:53	48
Kevin Vesely	Pyranha Burn M	Short K1	05:54	50
Robert Bone	Riot Magnum	Short K1	05:57	51
Robin Betz	Liquidlogic Remix 59	Short K1W	05:58	52
Kurt Lamberth	Dagger Nomad 8.5	Short K1	05:59	53
Clayton Gaar	Riot Magnum	Short K1	06:01	54
Chris Buckner	Liquidlogic Gus	Short K1	06:05	55
Ryan Snodgrass	Pyranha Burn L	Short K1	06:05	55
Lizzy English	Dagger Nomad 8.5	Short K1W	06:09	57
Shayne Day	Necky Blunt	Short K1	06:09	57
Saunders Southecorvo	Riot Magnum	Short K1	06:10	59
Mac McGee	Pyranha Micro 240	Short K1	06:14	60
Katie Hilleke	Pyranha Burn	Short K1W	06:29	61
Isaac Ludwig	Pyranha Burn M	Short K1	06:39	62
Jacob Black	Liquidlogic Jefe	Short K1	06:43	63
Polk Deters	Liquidlogic Remix 79	Short K1	08:14	64
Eli Helbert	Esquif Taureau	Short OC1	09:03	65
Zack Dean	Pyranha Spanish Fly	Short OC1	12:04	66

Ladies:

Robin Betz	Liquidlogic Remix 100	Long K1W	05:23	1
Lizzy English	Dagger Green	Long K1W	05:25	2
Adriene Levknecht	Liquidlogic Remix 100	Long K1W	05:44	3
Adriene Levknecht	Liquidlogic Remix 59	Short K1W	05:50	4
Shannon Carrol	Pyranha Burn L	Short K1W	05:50	4
Robin Betz	Liquidlogic Remix 59	Short K1W	05:58	6
Lizzy English	Dagger Nomad 8.5	Short K1W	06:09	7
Shannon Carrol	Pyranha Mountain 300	Long K1W	06:28	8
Katie Hilleke	Pyranha Burn	Short K1W	06:29	9
Katie Hilleke	Prijon T-Canyon	Long K1W	18:57	10

Ironman:

Pat Keller	Dagger Green Dagger Nomad 8.5	Long K1 Short K1	04:28	04:40	09:08	1
Andrew Holcombe	Dagger Green Dagger Nomad 8.5	Long K1 Short K1	04:27	04:52	09:19	2
Geoff Calhoun	Dagger Green Dagger Nomad 8.5	Long K1 Short K1	04:31	04:56	09:27	3
Drew Duval	Dagger Green Dagger Nomad 8.5	Long K1 Short K1	04:59	04:59	09:58	4
Billy Jones	Prijon Tornado Pyranha Everest	Long K1 Short K1	04:58	05:10	10:08	5
Chan Jones	Prijon Tornado Pyranha Everest	Long K1 Short K1	05:04	05:05	10:09	6
Shane Benedict	Liquidlogic Remix 100 Liquidlogic Remix 79	Long K1 Short K1	04:55	05:18	10:13	7
Nathan Silsbee	Wave Sport Momentum Riot Magnum	Long K1 Short K1	04:55	05:20	10:15	8
Paul Stamilio	Prijon Tornado Liquidlogic Gus	Long K1 Short K1HP	05:18	05:12	10:30	9
Paul Stamilio	Prijon Tornado Liquidlogic Gus	Long K1 Short K1	05:18	05:18	10:36	10
Adam Bixby	Prijon Tornado Drago Rossi Critical Mass	Long K1 Short K1	05:21	05:17	10:38	11
Mefford Williams	Perception Pirouette Liquidlogic Jefe Grande	Long K1 Short K1	05:20	05:29	10:49	12
Ben Stookesberry	Perception Corsica Jackson Mega Rocker	Long K1 Short K1	05:33	05:27	11:00	13
Dylan Bruce	Wave Sport Momentum Pyranha Burn L	Long K1 Short K1	05:33	05:37	11:10	14
Robin Betz	Liquidlogic Remix 100 Liquidlogic Remix 59	Long K1W Short K1W	05:23	05:58	11:21	15
Adriene Levknecht	Liquidlogic Remix 100 Liquidlogic Remix 59	Long K1W Short K1W	05:44	05:50	11:34	16
Lizzy English	Dagger Green Dagger Nomad 8.5	Long K1W Short K1W	05:25	06:09	11:34	16
Robert Bone	Perception Overflow Riot Magnum	Long K1 Short K1	05:39	05:57	11:36	18
Shannon Carrol	Pyranha Mountain 300 Pyranha Burn L	Long K1W Short K1W	06:28	05:50	12:18	19
Katie Hilleke	Prijon T-Canyon Pyranha Burn	Long K1W Short K1W	18:57	06:29	25:26	20

HP:

Paul Stamilio	Liquidlogic Gus	Short K1HP	05:12	1
Keith Sprinkle	Prijon Tornado	Long K1HP	05:27	2
Adam Secrest	Perception Corsica Matrix	Long K1HP	05:48	3
Kirk Williams	Prijon Tornado	Long K1HP	06:12	4
Bill Clipper	Prijon Tornado	Long K1HP	06:24	5

OC-1:

Eli Helbert	Esquif Taureau	Short OC1	09:03	1
Zack Dean	Pyranha Spanish Fly	Short OC1	12:04	2

C-1:

Dave Hepp	Dagger Cascade	Long C1	05:03	1
Will Lyons	Dagger Cascade	Long C1	05:08	2

I'd like to thank Chris Hipgrave for teaching me so much about training over the years and for having enough faith in me to loan his prized Tornado out for a summer of abuse on low-water Green. Jim and Dinver - you're awesome! Thank you so much for getting me an Everest for the race! I am stoked beyond belief to be paddling this boat as the winter creek season approaches! Mom and Dad for standing behind me in everything I try, even if it scares you to death. Casey for always being supportive and positive and for taking sick shots of me all the time!