World Kayak Event Coverage

After negotiating the struggles that come with hosting our Hometown Throwdowns in the local state parks, our third Throwdown, a downriver mass start loop race at the famous Loop section of the Youghiogheny River, went off splendidly. We had fourteen racers and a number of safety boaters, insuring both an exciting and safe adventure down our regions most paddled section of river.

The race included everything from the long wildwater style boats on down to the smallest of playboats. Racers began with their bows on the shore requiring them to backup at the beginning in order to pull away from the putin beach and start their journeys downstream. The race was carnage free, much unlike our last race, with the boats pulling ahead of one another through both Entrance and Cucumber rapids. From this point on the race became the sort of smaller races that are created when one mass starts the competitors, with those nearest each other egging each other on and desperately trying to make those last minute passes.

At the finish line, just at the end of Railroad rapid, racers were require to touch and marked rock with some part of the boat and/or person. I know that I personally took great pleasure in watching the racers push for the final stretch, with racers who had already finished egging on those still competing. Following the race, Chrissy Zeltner, a resident wildwater racer from the region, took the time to allow fellow racers to experiment with paddling her boat, hopefully bringing more paddlers to this often overlooked section of our paddling community.

After the race, the racers gathered in the Ferncliff parking for the raffle of the great prizes from Shred Ready, Crocs, Rocky Mountain Khaki, Stonyboater Paddlewax, LVM, Smith Optics, and more… We look forward to seeing everyone at this region’s final Hometown Throwdown, The Riversport Slalom Aug 22-23.

Overall Order Of Finish (Top 4)
1 – Chrissy Zeltner
2 – Carl Schnieder
3 – Kent Reigel
4 – Rick Gates

Finish By Class

A Class – Boats Over 11’
1 – Chrissy Zeltner
2 – John Roach

C Class – Boats 7-9’
1 – Carl Schnieder
2 – Kent Riegel
3 – Rick Gates

D Class – Boats Under 7’
1 – Paul Eisner
2 – Joey Eisner
3 – Carolyn Brown