Saturday, November 19, 2011

The 16th Annual Green Race

A few weekends ago Todd, Robb and I headed out to watch the 16th Annual Green Race, which is a creek race (using kayaks) on the Green River Narrows. I'm not a paddler, myself, but it's interesting to me, and the spectating was supposed to be prime.

There was limited parking when we got there- there's one long, rural road to park on and we wound up parking a long ways away from the trail. Luckily Robb was thinking quickly when the driver of a truck stopped to ask us a question. With the driver's permission, we hopped in the back and watched the poor suckers trudging down the road as we floated along for a few minutes.

P1030551

The race is well attended, and that showed along the hike down to the river. Young and old piled up at slightly difficult sections.

P1030554

We got down to the section of river and watched at different spots as we walked further up. There was a pretty good crowd, and most people were intently watching the racers.

(Hiking on the trails along the river)
P1030560

P1030564

You can see paddlers on the other side- we hikers couldn't access that side.

P1030587

We watched for a while at the end of a particularly hard section. At the end of the run were some volunteers in safety gear, waiting to flip people right side up. It seemed to be pretty common that a paddler would spend the entirety of a section upside down, swept along with no break to right themselves. Fun, right?

P1030579

Since I don't know much else about whitewater kayaking or the race in general, how about some more photos?

P1030616

P1030573

P1030596

P1030599

P1030604

Fin.

No comments: