CSU at the Run of the Charles

Hannah Smith organized a good CSU Junior mixed relay team for the 24 mile relay race in the Run of the Charles today, along with some good trash talking aimed at the Quinobequin Canoe Club team with 5 CSUers. On the Jr team were Olivia Meyerson and Chris Stock - Leg 1, Cate Brams and Jacob Meyerson - Leg 2, Nick Reitman and Zoe Snow - Leg 3, Rebecca Smith (complete with war paint!) and Calvin Wight - Leg 4 and Hannah Smith and Eli Hoenig - Leg 5. For the QCC, a team that does only this race, were Wes Denering and Gus - Leg 1, Bob and Jim Burnham - Leg 2, Bob B and Bob Kelly - Leg 3, Everett Briggs and Wes - Leg 4 and Rob and Jamie - Leg 5. It was a nice day for a good, hard paddle (or two in the case of Wes and Bob B). There were other skiers out there as well, including Michael Melnikov, Aims Coney, Terry Myers, the Shultz's, down from VT where they still have ice on the water, Weston Tues night racers back in their primary sport Carina Peritore, Dan Rabinkin, Seth Miller, Dave Vandorpe and probably others that I didn't see. One of these days the results will be posted at http://www.crwa.org/

At the start Chris Stock and Olivia Meyerson got off to an excellent start, dropping everyone in their wave immediately, while a few waves back Wes and Gus did the same. The hand offs for leg 2 went pretty smoothly as Cate and Jacob took over for the juniors and the Burnhams for QCC a few minutes later. No one went for a swim this year and the junior boat was much improved through all the legs, but despite the trash talk in the end, experience paddling canoes in a straight line won out over enthusiasm and youth and the old guys in the QCC finished for the 9th year in a row in 1st place, while the Jrs. took the top spot in the mixed category and an excellent 7th overall, moving up 4 spots from last year's team. I suspect that if the race had been all portages and the juniors practiced a bit more the old guys would have been toasted by the Jrs. The water this year was high and fast and at the broken dam in Watertown Rob and I had to negotiate our way through two overturned canoes in the small patch of white water. A fun day to avoid, once again, doing chores at home. The 2011-2012 ski season begins tomorrow!