World Kayak Event Coverage

The fourth and final event in our Hometown Throwdown series was our largest and most fun event this season. The August event was held at Big Rock in conjunction with the Noli Spash event!  The weather for the event started out with mostly cloudy skies and temps in the mid 70s.  With the lower than normal air temperature, the Nolichucky River water felt like bath water and we all enjoyed it!  The sun occasionally peaked out for us, but later in the afternoon we had to take about a 30 minute delay in the Men’s K-1A heats due to a torrential downpour!  After the shower passed, the rest of the evening was pleasant and we finished out the event with some great rides by the K-1A Men.  

The wave/hole feature at Big Rock was near perfect thanks to a small shower we received two days before that had the river level slowly dropping to the ideal level (+/-700 CFS) for freestyle tricks.  A great show was put on for our large crowd of spectators (30-40) along the river left bank and on the center rock island!  I was fortunate to have my mother and grandmother join us at the event to watch and they both said that they really enjoyed it!  I also learned from the Riverpark Campground owners that some of the campers on site had come to camp just to watch the event.  It was really great to hear that our freestyle series was growing a fan base! 

A total of 37 competitors came from near by & as far away as Charlotte, NC and Rock Island, TN to participate in the August event #4.  This event had the best rate of participation of any event the series!  All five of our divisions were filled with paddlers ready to strut their stuff!  Thanks to Kerry Porche, we had a PA system set-up beside the feature which added a fun, new aspect to this event.  A few of us took turns announcing competitors and adding some colorful commentary!  We also played some good tunes on the PA for a background soundtrack to the event.  Good times, good times!  

HTTD Event #4 Results:

Juniors’ K-1:

1.       Conner McSpadden (94)

2.       Nathan Kincheloe (68)

Women’s K-1:

1.       Crystal Gustin (118)

2.       Terri Adkins (104)

3.       Jennifer Bradley (60)

C-1:

1.       David Goodwin (95)

2.       Dan Pettingill (73)

Men’s K-1A:
1.       Michael Patterson (409)

2.       Tommy Hehnen (261)
3.       Brad Barker (246)

4.       Chris Wing (241)

5.       Josh Dalton (227)

6.       Dewey (218)

7.       Casey Jones (173)

8.       Kerry Porche – Hand Paddler (169)

9.       Brandon Dale (160)
10.     Will Rudisill (154)
11.     David Ledford (149)  

Men’s K-1B:
1.       Wesley R. Bradley (136)
2.       Justin Benton (118)

2.       Joseph Obenschain (118)

4.       Steve Moore (116)
5.       Tyler Jones (96)

6.       Eric Hoffman (94)

7.       Brian Pickett (93)     

8.       Stuart Everett (80)

9.       Jason Bordwine (78)
9.       Mike Dorsey (78)

11.     Nick Smith (77)

12.     Michael Bianchi (73)

13.     Jason Miller (62)

14.     Adam Gudger (60)

14.     Stacy Smith (60)     

16.     Randall Hunter (57)

17.     Michael Kincheloe (55)

18.     Travis Fleming (52)

19.     Jere Rudisill (48)

Congratulations to Connor, Crystal, David, & Michael as our event #4 winners!  I was also really happy to finally win an event myself in the Men’s K-1B class after two years of competition.  It’s now time for me to move up to K-1A now…  A big THANK YOU as always to all the competitors who came out to participate in this big day!  The event would not have been a success without each of you and I hope you will come back to join us next year for the 2010 Tri-Cities HTTD Series.

HTTD Event #4 competitor highlights:

- Mad Mike Patterson showed us once again that he is truly the Tri-Cites Freestyle Champion by racking up a +400 score for this event, which was a new personal best for him in this series!

- Brian Pickett debuted his new freestyle trick (the “Epileptic Dog”) that thoroughly entertained the crowd.  He also showed us in his final ride that you can throwdown in a creek boat too!

- We had two gentleman (Jere Rudisill & Mike Dorsey) compete in the Men’s K-1B class who were over 50 years young… that’s just awesome!

- Eric Hoffman gave the crowd some good entertainment with his water cannon and earned some style points with his recreational orange PFD.

- Despite having a broken hand, Kerri Porche still competed with one hand and used hand paddles!

- We had 2 swimmers during the event who went home with with the coveted River Gypsies “Everybody Swims” sticker.

As if HTTD Event #4 was not enough fun by itself, the Noli Splash event and the APE’s Annual Picnic added even more good times to the day!  The Noli Splash was a fund raiser for the First Descents Program.  The Noli Splash raised approximately $1,000 through a silent auction & $2 admission fee into the venue.  The money raised in this event will be used for a scholarship to send one young adult recovering from cancer to the First Descents Camp in Colorado.

A special thanks goes out to  for donating $50 to this cause and supporting our events!

The Noli Splash hosted some great live music from: Richard Banks, Lexus Shipley, The Rhythm Brewers, & The Tin Whiskers.  The Noli Splash also had tube & funyak rentals through the day.  We hosted a great Tri-Cities film premiere of “Hotel Charley 4 – At Your Own Risk” on Friday night as well after a nighttime play session in Big Rock by spot light!  A huge thank you goes out to Kerry & Catherine Porche for all their hard work and organization on the Noli Splash with the Hometown Throwdown Event #4!

The Ape’s Annual Picnic and river trips were a great success as part of the events also!  A few of our local more experienced paddlers met up with some newbies to run a lower section of the Noli (Class II) and another group took a group of 1^st timers down the Noli Gorge (Class III-IV).  I have heard some good reports from all the Noli river trips that day.  All the events culminated in the late afternoon with a BBQ picnic provided by the APE’s from the Firehouse.  It was tasty after a hard day of paddling and competing!  Thank you to Randy, Debbie, and Joe for organizing all of the APE’s activities during the day!

We had a great group of 7 volunteers who came out to assist in the HTTD event!  Jeff Weatherford was a great commentator on the PA for the event!  Erin Weatherford & Bob Peal served as our technical judges.  Tom Hehnen and Samantha Miller were excellent scribes for our judges.  Megan Dale, once again, kept everyone very alert with the air horn while serving as timekeeper.  Cheryl Killman was back on site as the event photographer shooting some great shots, as seen in this event coverage, of all the action.  A big thank you goes out to these guys and gals for all their help!

All of our competitors & volunteers went home with prizes provided by our good sponsors!  A big THANKS goes out to all of our program partners, listed in the banner above, and our local sponsors: Bonnie Kate Theater, Bonnie Kate Café, Risen Sun the movie, River Gypsies, Riverpark Campground & Rushing Waters Outfitters.  A special thanks goes out to Riverpark Campground for the use of their great venue to host the events.  We would not have had these events without their support.  Make sure you give Bruce and Nancy a personal thank you for all they do for our paddling community…

As always a big thank you to the World Kayak leadership: Colin Kemp and James McBeath for making these events possible with all their hard preparation work!

Cheryl Killman’s HTTD #4 Event Photos:

Album 1 – http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=29332&id=1074133134&l=44e918c30a

Album 2 – http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=29387&id=1074133134&l=970edebda0

Album 3 – http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=29399&id=1074133134&l=b93d675105

Wesley R. Bradley’s HTTD #4 & Series Champ Award Ceremony Photos:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=113365&id=552848204&l=fde651b4d1

Our 2009 Tri-Cities HTTD series came to a dramatic close this year after the BBQ picnic with a fun medal ceremony. A big thank you goes out to Dominion Carton  for sponsorship of the medals.  Our top 3 competitors in each class went home with a medal and certificate designed by yours truly.

2009 Men’s K-1A Series Champions:

Gold Medalist – Michael Patterson

Silver Medalist – Will Rudisill

Bronze Medalist – Bradon Dale

Bronze Medalist – Brad Barker

2009 Men’s K-1B Series Champions:

Gold Medalist – Wesley R. Bradley

Silver Medalist – Steve Moore

Bronze Medalist – Jason Bordwine

2009 Women’s K-1 Series Champions:

Gold Medalist – Terri Adkins

Silver Medalist – Crystal Gustin

Bronze Medalist – Jennifer Bradley

2009 Juniors’ K-1 Series Champions:

Gold Medalist – Nathan Kincheloe

Silver Medalist – Matt Wright

Bronze Medalist – Mason Farmer

2009 C-1 Series Champions:

Gold Medalist – Dan Pettingill

Silver Medalist – David Goodwin

Congrats and thanks again to all for coming out and participating in one or all of these four great events in the series.  Thanks to for sponsoring all the top prizes that were given to the series champs!!  This brings our freestyle series to a close this year, but stay tuned to World Kayak for upcoming paddling events and news about our great sport.  Until the next Throwdown series, I hope to see you creekin’!