THINK Kayak International Challenge – U.S. takes the lead!
With Bellingham and our Canadian friends across the border having some of the most AWESOME surfski race scenes in the world, someone decided a little friendly competition was in order.
Thus, the THINK Kayak International Challenge was created. Two races: one in Bellingham, one in BC. We each bring as many racers as we can rally, then points are earned as top solo men, solo women and tandem teams – up to ten boats per country – cross the finish line.
The two races this year are the Dan Harris Challenge this past weekend, and the Tour De Indian Arm at Deep Cove Kayaks in BC, on May 16th.
With all the points tallied, the US has the lead on our home turf with an unofficial score of 109 US to 144 Canada. (The lower score leads in this point system.)
Canadian racer Bob Putnam, who piloted the winning tandem surfski at the Dan Harris Challenge, and is the race organizer for the Tour De Indian Arm, had this to say….
“I can see as the Think International Challenge grows and if Canada continues to destroy the US in Hockey you will need something to cling to. If Canada continues to lose the Think Challenge we will struggle to overcome the Bellingham powerhouse, and maybe just maybe the Nelsons will move to another state or choose to immigrate to Canada.
It was great fun being in a double with my partner Reid Carter and hanging with the Big Dogs at the front of the pack. It was impressive to watch Brandon N. and Gareth TJ maintain the fast pace. Clearly they are on a level above. They pretty much drafted our double till Chuckanut Island and then Brandon struck out on his own, moving to the middle of the channel.
I saw our role as “domestique” for Gareth who in Tour de France lingo was the “protected rider”. [We would simply] stay with Brandon and let Gareth ride our wash until the final sprint. So we did this while Brandon pushed his own water off to the side.
Here we were doing 12.5 – 13 kmh ( 7.75 -8 mph) As we approached the can, Brandon caught a wave and started to accelerate ahead. We were one wave back and couldn’t get the boat moving. Here we were pushing up to 14kmh / 8.7 mph and Brandon was pulling away!! I was impressed.
About half way to the finish Brandon had put 75 meters on us and Reid and I tried to sacrifice our bodies to help Gareth catch up. We did a big push for about a minute and then when we started to fade Gareth took off. With a herculean effort he managed to split the gap between us and Brandon, but alas it was too little to late. As Mike Fitz always says, in his moments of wisdom, “You should have just paddled harder” “May 16th is Race #2 of the THINK International Challenge. We will have to rally the troops for a good showing to hold off the Canadians in Deep Cove!!!