Paddle For The Paws Recap

First off I would like to thank Mike and the rest of the Wisp crew for putting on a great event up at Deep Creek Lake this past weekend. They did a great job organizing and setting up the race course in some not so easy conditions. Everyone who worked at wisp as well as all the locals were super friendly and nice.

We got there Friday afternoon and while driving through the mountains we were greeted with torrential downpours and even hail at one point. As we pulled up we thought we had a break in the weather but then the winds and another batch of storms rolled through fast making the lake look like the Bay. We were lucky enough to still get a short paddle in later that night to check out the race course, and the "OBSTACLE" which is a small bridge where paddlers have to get on their knees to paddle under. The water on the lake is clean and the mountain scenery while paddling is awesome, if you have never been I highly recommend it.

Race day we were greeted with RAIN AGAIN and a nice chill in the air but flat glass calm water! Everyone was in rain gear at the meeting, it looked like we were all about to go fishing instead of paddling a 6 mile paddle board race. After the racers meeting we all made our way out to the starting line for the race. It was a nice change from the 200+ racer start in Carolina a few weekends ago, where the starting line looked more like a snake then a straight line haha. After getting bumped and run into multiple times in Carolina I took the advice of Doug Ellis aka Dougie Fresh "Paddle as hard as you can for as long as you can at the start to avoid the carnage", so I hammered hard at the start to try and beat the crowd to the first turn.  My new Infinity Spear gets up to speed quick and it took off. I had the lead around the first buoy (more of a credit to the board then the paddler haha),  with Neil and Goose right right behind me. After sprinting for a pretty good amount and yelling at myself for listening to "Damn Doug" as my lungs felt like they were going to explode, I settled down for the long haul. Neil the Machine, Goose, and I hung together for the first lap then on the 2nd lap Neil hit 6th gear and pulled away from us on his 14' Infinity and took the win, Goose took 2nd, and I took 3rd. There was also another paddler who I feel bad for not knowing his name but he was not far behind us and really kept us pushing. So I learned that Doug's race start strategy works but your training better be up to par haha.

 

 

 

 

A few minutes after we finished, we see Sperry and a Virgina paddler battling it out for 1st in the 12'6 division. It was neck and neck but sperry took him around the turns and was able to edge him out and win the 12'6 division on his Custom 12'6 Infinity made by Steve Boehne. Dawn from OC Sup and Fitness took another 1st place finish in the ladies division 6 Mile, Kathy Summers from DC also put in a good showing but had to do the short course so she could get back to DC for her sons prom night. Keep an eye out for both of these ladies this summer!

After a fun (wet) race, everyone went home and got dry, then met up at the resort for the awards. Mike and his crew hooked it up!! Free beer and food and awesome prizes which included ski/snowboard lift tickets, mountain coaster tickets, zip line tours, and more. This was their first time doing this event and it was awesome, next year will even be better so I would suggest marking this down on your calendar!!!

 

Next Races are this Saturday in Bethany Beach or Richmond, VA!! See you on the water soon..

Big thanks to Bob Holcomb and Mike for some of the pictures

Sup Annapolis