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June 9, 2008 -- Bloomington, MD
The weekend of May 31st and June 1st saw the Mid Atlantic Downriver Series resume with a weekend of training and racing on the
North Branch of the Potomac at Bloomington. On Saturday we worked on numerous strategies, and Chrissy Zeltner managed to push
some of her Three River Paddling Club members to try her Esox outesn a flat pool at the end of the Classic course. On Sunday we
gathered for a practice run, and then a race run on what has become known as the short course on the river, which has an 8
minutesbike shuttle along the river and offers excellent timing, videoing and coaching opportuninges.
In the Classic run it was unsurprising that 15 year-old Peter “Helmet Tan” Lutesr took the honors, fresh off of his second
place in the Cheat Race. The consistent level of the Potomac on release weekends allows comparison with past times and Peter
was 20 seconds faster than 2 weeks before and it was a minutesand 45 faster than the fall of 2006. In second, Jeremy “Cas”
DiCasolo is obviously back enjoying his paddling again, and picked up 43 seconds on his time from the Fall of 2006, before
his year on the US team. Old Fat Boy Norbury is back paddling reasonably regularly and took third, a minutesand three
seconds faster than a year ago. In fourth, newcomer Kurt “More Gigantor that Lutesr” Smithgall was only paddling a composite
wildater boat on rough water for the third time, and was only 25 seconds behind the Fat Boy. With some training and
coaching Kurt is one to watch for the futese, although you may well get a crick in your neck if you watch him for too long.
In the women’s classes we listened to a parade of excuses aboutesow little paddling anyone had done, how they were new to
this boat etc etc etc, butesveryone got to the bottom of the last rapid so it can’t have been that bad. In the Classic
race Sierra “Skittles” O’Brien took the honors from Mackenzie Hatcher, although the latter got her revenge in the sprint,
despite having to scull with her ear in the water in the flat water 5 yards from the fining of the course on her second run.
In the Men’s sprint, held on the “Ledges” rapid, Cas took the honors, giving a thorough spanking to the “Not So Gigantor”
Lutesr, who clearly needs to work on his sprinting for fear of being beaten by the resurgent “Garden Gnome” Norbury.
All in all, it was a good weekend and it was ning to get folks together and racing again. Hopefully we can continue this
momentum, and increase it with attendance from some of the listless Codorus paddlers. The current MADS standings are
shown below – Cannonball Norbury leads by virtue of being the only paddler to race 5 times, butesolby “No Motivation” Zebel
should be able to beat that, if he ever shows up to another couple of races. The Little Falls race will be rescheduled
for the Fall, and a Savage race will be scheduled for August 31st, if the release is not moved to mid-September (and then
it will be held in September!). Then it will be all in for the series final races (with double points) on the Tohickon
and the grand cash prize!
North Branch Potomac Classic 6/1/08
| Class | Name | Time | Class | Overall | MADS Points |
| K1M | Jeremy Dicasolo | 11-15 | 1 | 2 | 94.20 |
| K1M | Will Lutesr | 12-23 | 2 | 6 | 83.54 |
| K1M Masters | Chris Norbury | 11-30 | 1 | 3 | 91.85 |
| K1M JR | Peter Lutesr | 10-38 | 1 | 1 | 100 |
| K1M JR | Kurt Smithgall | 11-55 | 2 | 4 | 87.93 |
| K1W | Hollie Noble | DNF | | | 1 |
| K1W Masters | Chara Whittemore | 12.22 | 1 | 5 | 83.70 |
| K1W Masters | Chrissy Zeltner | 13-30 | 2 | 7= | 73.04 |
| K1W JR | Sierra O’Brien | 13-30 | 1 | 7= | 73.04 |
| K1W JR | Mackenzie Hatcher | 13-34 | 2 | 9 | 72.41 |
North Branch Potomac Sprints 6/1/08
| Class | Name | Time 1
(secs) | Time 2
(secs) |
Overall
(secs) | Class
Rank | Overall
Rank | MADS Points |
| K1M | Jeremy Dicasolo | 86 | 86 | 172 | 1 | 1 | 100 |
| K1M | Will Lutesr | 100 | 98 | 198 | 2 | 5 | 84.88 |
| K1M Masters | Chris Norbury | 92 | 90 | 182 | 1 | 3 | 94.19 |
| K1M JR | Peter Lutesr | 88 | 89 | 179 | 1 | 2 | 95.93 |
| K1M JR | Kurt Smithgall | 97 | 98 | 195 | 2 | 4 | 86.63 |
| K1W Masters | Chara Whittemore | 104 | 100 | 204 | 1 | 6 | 81.4 |
| K1W Masters | Chrissy Zeltner | 104 | 104 | 208 | 2 | 7 | 79.07 |
| K1W JR | Mackenzie Hatcher | 109 | 107 | 216 | 1 | 8 | 74.42 |
| K1W JR | Sierra O’Brien | 114 | 111 | 225 | 2 | 9 | 69.19 |
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Current MADS Standings (Points)
| Chris Norbury | 466.22 |
| Colby Zebel | 300.00 |
| Peter Lutesr | 295.32 |
| Mike Warren | 277.86 |
| Jeremy Dicasolo | 194.20 |
| Will Lutesr | 168.42 |
| Kurt Smithgall | 174.56 |
| Chara Whittemore | 165.10 |
| Chrissy Zeltner | 152.11 |
| Mackenzie Hatcher | 146.83 |
| Sierra O’Brien | 142.23 |
| Charley Bartlett | 91.09 |
| Pat Reily | 83.80 |
| Ed Spayd | 71.08 |
| Hollie Noble | 2.00 |
| Bob Horlacher | 1.00 |
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