Robe Race Saftey Patrol...

Well I'm glad I showed up to set safety for the race... It was fun to have a good group to paddle in there with and check it out. I'm not surprised that none of the 9 pairs of racers needed it, though.

I went down to Faceplant/Catcher's Mit with a collection of Oregon and Washington Paddlers-- great to see some of those guys up here in the wake of the Canyon Creek Race and other recent events.

Me, my trip got off to a sketchy start. Just couldn't get any graceful timing through T1, and while T2 was fine, Last Sunshine was rough for me too. It was lower than last week, from 5.05 to about 4.85. Low enough to be noticably bonier, but not noticably less pushy so much. It wasn't till Hotel California that I started feeling a little more in tune.

By the top of Faceplant I was caught up to my timing. Definitely need to get out on this run more.

Catcher's Mit was a great spot to hang out w/ a throw bag. seems like half the teams went right and half went left. Both routes had their merits from a DownRiver standpoint, but both sides of the river had their slow lines as well. I saw people boof left that had really fast lines, and people dash right who had really fast lines. People who boofed left and had really slow lines, and poeple who went right and also had slow lines, so it really depended upon which square footage area a racer planted his line.

I like the ROBE ROBE as 1st prize. Nice touch. And I like Todd's commitment to keeping the race Homegrown and grassroots-- There are plenty of overhyped, over-sponsored, overblown river events. I'm glad this race wasn't one of them. I'm sure the race will be bigger next year, and if I get in enough runs on robe, I may even throw my helmet into the ring. That is, if Robe doesn't KICK MY ASS FIRST! Knock on wood...

Congratulations to Ben & Rob for winning 1st place!!! All the other teams really had fast runs as well.