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2007 Lord of the Fork Race
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.
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
http://russellforkrace.blogspot.com or www.russellfork.info
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)
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