I would like to know if they're going to post splits for each event. Mainly interested in did I go faster than Jowely Heinlein. He was the guy with the face faring to keep his jowels from slapping against the side of his head.

Edited by author 04-12-2008 10:33 PM
Good job to everyone................I really enjoyed everyone being at Confluence Park...........

R2R should really consider using this course every year. It was great to see the leaders and how far back I was on both the bike leg and boat leg. I also felt both legs added more of a physical challenge than the normal route and took out the inherent danger that the Wenatchee river leg can have for novice paddlers which most are.

I agree. I liked the flatwater course much better as well and wish that was the new standard. Seeing fellow competitors on the bike leg and gauging distance was really helpful too.

I will have to disagree with the last 2 posts. Doing the Wenatchee river part of canoe/kayak leg is what made R2R fun. The Wenatchee river requires you to have some skill in rapids, instead of the Columbia just requires muscle. Plus if you are too much of a pansy to do the Wenatchee river, that is what the Columbia course division is for.

Pansy! I would rather do the entire course backwards. A small hand full of folks like intense and scary, but not the masses it takes to grow the event. Each year the race gets smaller and smaller. (as far as Attendees)
If you go with a Columbia course event with the Run in the park. Bike from Mission Ridge. If you can make the coerner at Horse Lake rd and Wenatchee ave you can bike down from the Lodge. It was fun to see where your compition was with the course change.

Will split times be posted at some point?

Great event - my third year. I love the Wenatchee course, but I think it was a good choice to move the course for low water. I don't understand why people are suggesting abandoning the Wenatchee river in the future when there is a Columbia course for those who prefer flat water. I thought the idea was to include all the great sports that Wenatchee has to offer, not just the ones that you are good at. Class II white water is the equal of a "blue diamond" ski run.

Okay, I really liked the Wenatchee River when that was the only option. My brother and I have been doing the Columbia Course since it's debut and really like it. There are to many novices that attempt the Wenatchee and make it threatening for those of us who have more experience. I do also see the numbers of young competitors shrinking. I hope we can encourage more of the teen and 20's crowd to participate.....I remember a couple hundred boats waiting at Monitor Park years ago..........not near that many this year. Each of us should encourage participation by sponsoring a younger team even if that means giving a few hundred dollars for fee's. I do worry that this event continue to shrink in numbers. If the R2R committee needs a willing volunteer........my email is larry_rn@hotmail.com

Splits are up at milliseconds.com

Oh, by the way, how come there was no officials checking bikes at Squilchuck???? Or are there no rules for bikes???

Split times were online yesterday, although some are still being worked out as usual....ya just need to not clik on the link and go to the actual site and you can get most splits....and Jim.....your wrong...the new paddle course is not for this race...the water is slow and low...so why did I see so many rec boats struggling and not making much distance at all getting to the bridge?? so what if the water was up just a bit? a lot of rec teams would get a dnf for(not making it up the river) their effort and entry fee....I saw many struggle at that point...not making forward progress....It is a nice alternative but the original course is something that makes it the Ridge to River....not ridge to pond....but it would be a nice course and a nice option for those that wish not to be in the river...and for those that wish to keep it on saturday....thats one of the downfalls of our race.... probably 30% of coast racers in our race agree...... its tough for a five man team to get the time off to be here on friday night, let alone get the day off to ski the course or run the river...it should be on sunday..... I would love nothing more for this race to have the participants it had in the past years.....I asked some of the coasties this year and last, and they agreed if it was on sunday, many might come back....And Mr Torin....Rising Moon for my support who gets me out in nine secs....and is my son.......and Jessica or jennifer..lets take the blade out and not your flite......I had a fun time....Bob the burner is the stud of all time.(Luv ya mom!!)....honored to be his friend.......

Paul

I too agree that some participation has been lost when the race moved to Saturday........Lets move it back to Sunday and see what happens to the numbers.... Just once to see if the numbers increase and if they do, well, the question will have been answered..........

[quote]I will have to disagree with the last 2 posts. Doing the Wenatchee river part of canoe/kayak leg is what made R2R fun. The Wenatchee river requires you to have some skill in rapids, instead of the Columbia just requires muscle. Plus if you are too much of a pansy to do the Wenatchee river, that is what the Columbia course division is for.[/quote]

I'd like to extend that thought to the "cross country" leg. That course was anything but "cross country"; pretty disappointing actually. The level of skill needed to negotiate that loop is pretty low considering the level of competition in this event. There should be some true objective difficulties that include a much longer course, variable snow (read ungroomed) conditions, and more dramatic elevation changes (up and down)... true cross country terrain. Think first leg of the Hog Loppet with some climbs thrown in and you get where I'm coming from.

I remember (I think) someone saying the race was moved to Saturday so people wouldn't bail before the awards were handed out and that they might stay in town to enjoy the area. Well I heard them announcing the awards while many of us (OK a few)were still paddlin'. I vote for Sunday! Set up an online poll. I am sure many racers and participants check the the site periodically. It would help take some of the rush rush out of Friday prep.

I don't know if Saturday or Sunday makes a differance, but the idea of moving the race to the Columbia Lake is not right. I think the Wenatchee does make the race and I'd rather see it moved upriver into harder rapids than take it away. Class one and two is psudo technical, and not dangerous with the kind of river support that is always out there. I also like Scotts idea of making the "nordic" more of a challenge. Wildthing - how the hell do you make changeovers so fast! And by the way, Seattle is not on the coast you 509ner!