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June 20, 2009 -- Salida, CO
It was absolutely amazing to see the level of excitement from the crowd of 3,000 spectators during the FIBArk Open
Wildwater Head to Head Sprint. During the close heats, the ROAR from the crowds was no less than that of a rival college
football game.
When Jeremy Rogers and Denny Adams first proposed putting the additional Wildwater sprint we were adding to the FIBArk
Games in a head to head format, we thought it would be exciting, but I don’t think that anyone envisioned it would be
such a big of a crowd pleaser and just pure fun for the competitors. In addition, the Arkansas River in downtown Salida
is a great venue for this type of competition as it has two uniform river wide holes with strong current and bouncy waves
in between.
Denny Adams (the H2H Race Director) did a fabulous job of figuring out how to stagger up to five boats in the eddy to
eliminate any advantage for the boats closest to the current. In addition, Denny started the heats like a flatwater
Sprint start (without any kind of countdown) in order to eliminate any forward motion and/or anticipation from the
boats. And from that moment on it was a wide open head to head sprint in whitewater.
The two hotly contested heats were in C-2 and K-1. In the C-2 event, the teams of Rhoehner/Baker hit the top hole at
same time as Murphy/Pinyerd. The power of the C-2s smashing through the waves really got the crowd involved and they
went wild as Murphy/Pinyerd gunned it and pulled ahead, blasting straight through the second hole.
But the real crowd pleaser was the men’s K-1 finals sprint where Geoff Calhoun battled it out with Peter Lutter all the
way down the course. Calhoun took the early lead by a half of a bow length when he seemed to just fly through the top
hole but Lutter never gave up. As the neared the bottom hole Geoff took an inside line next to the bridge and Lutter
dropped the hammer, edging out Calhoun through the second hole to pull slightly ahead at the finish line.
I don’t know that I have ever seen happier competitors no matter how they finished and the crowd went wild! This style
of racing needs to be an annual event at FIBArk and other metro venues!
FIBArk Open Head2Head SprintSalida, CO June 20, 2009
Class |
Place |
Medalist |
K-1 |
1 |
Peter Lutter |
K-1 |
2 |
Geoff Calhoun |
K-1 |
3 |
Jeremy Rodgers |
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K-1 Jr |
1 |
Kurt Smithgall |
K-1 Jr |
2 |
Henry Heyman |
K-1 Jr |
3 |
Bryson Popp |
| |
K-1W |
1 |
Tierney O'Sullivan |
K-1W |
2 |
McKenzie Hatcher |
K-1W |
3 |
Haley Popp |
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C-1 |
1 |
Tom Wier |
C-1 |
2 |
Laura Adams |
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C-2 |
1 |
Rob Murphy/John Pinyerd |
C-2 |
2 |
Rich Roehner/Mike Baker |
C-2 |
3 |
Micki Reeves/Craig Adams |
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