Last year, Mother Nature didn't comply with the organizing & oversight committee's request for mellow flows, & the race had to be cancelled. This year we're feeling lucky .. & a bit better prepared with a 3-weekend window for the race. So let's get it on.
This year we're targeting the last weekend of April. The flow window will reside somewhere between 4.9 & 6.0. If flows are unacceptable, we'll hold the race the following weekend, & ditto that the following weekend. So, the weekend of April 23rd is first choice, May 1st & May 8th will be the backups. And if in that 3-weekend period we can't pull it off, I'll be over it.
At minimum, what I need to make this happen:
Timekeepers: 2 volunteers to hike trail to start line & stage the starting line
Timekeepers: 2 volunteers to hike trail to finish line to meticulously record finish line times
Racers: 5 teams of 2 racers willing to race at given flow (all racers must have throwbag to race)
Ideally, we'd have some safety boaters at a couple places throughout the canyon, & some spectators to hold bags (& cameras & cowbells) around Tunnel & Sunshine are always welcome .. but the race is contingent upon neither of these. Again, all we really need to pull the race off this year is 2 timekeepers up top, 2 at the bottom, & 5 teams ready to rumble.
The Prizes:
The Winners Robes with custom race embroidery (designed by my brother) will be on the line. Rob McKibbon ("Old Man River"?) & Ben Hawthorne will be aggressively defending the title & the right to have their names added to the sleeves a second time.
For the team that finishes D.F.L., there is the traditional Robe Gnome that will be passed to its new keepers (we hope).
We'll have a party afterward & I'll provide a bunch of beer. Last year, we had a bbq planned with lots of food. That may happen again. At the party we'll have an independent panel of experts crunch the numbers & crown the victors. We will also "pass the hat" & try to raise a bit of cheddar for our pal Effigy -- who many of you know well -- who traveled all the way from Southern OR to race in the inaugural event .. but who is now bound to a wheelchair & facing a pile of medical & rehab bills. Everything about this race is free & grassroots, fools, so please have it in your hearts to dip into your pockets & help out a friend in need.
You want to be a volunteer? Awesome! Get in touch with me or post in the comments. Got a race partner? Aye, que bueno. Let me know asap. Post your team in the comments section or send me an email. We'd love to see some of our downstate, east side, OR & BC friends come out for this. Any forum-hounds, please feel free to cross-post & get the word out on your favorite forum if you want.
And .. as always .. the comments section of this blog are open for shit-slingin' business.
Little Miss Sunshine; Photo courtesy Chris Tretwold
Hillary at Garbage. The gnomes be watchin'. Photo courtesy Leif Embertson
Off Broadway on a low-medium day; Photo courtesy Chris Tretwold
The old Garbage high-water boof (RIP) .. the gnomes be waitin'. Photo courtesy Leif Embertson
Crankenstein on the old Garbage boof. Photo courtesy Chris Tretwold
Is this 20-ft Waterfall? I don't even know. Photo courtesy Leif Embertson
I'm sure I left some details out, & I know that those dates won't be *perfect* for everybody, but that's what I had to work with. Any questions, hit me up or post in the comments. Stoked to make this happen this year!
38 comments:
Da Boyeez from the north are straight-up gankin the title, yo!
emerald citys playa's gona git served....
c-
I love the pictures with the gnome in em'.
I'm not sure the bong training regimen some of you bham fellas are on is going to bode well for the husky nature of the seattle competition.
team 1...Dufay and Hanaway (bham)
cough, cough, cough
"Team NAFTA", aka "Team US, Eh!"
Bryan Smith & Todd Gillman
If there is anybody out there that is hesitant about running garbage these days due to some ugly looking but benighn wood should know that the line is being run with little to no incidents.
For all of you getting your practice laps in, beware of a piece of wood partially blocking the lead in to the second boof at 20ft waterfall (actually the rapid in the last picture on this post). Just scout first and get the piece out of there while you are in the process. The line is easily run, but a little thinner than most people may like. Spread the word if anyone ends up getting the piece out.
Jonathan
thanks for the heads up jonathan. we actually got the wood out today. garbage needs some attention next.
you seattle boys best be ready, i just dropped another class to keep up with my intense training..... drink 10 beers and do 10 laps on the NF nooksack before classes
Team LFSC:
Louis Geltman & Kurt Braunlich
I second that garbage motion. Give me call if you want to head in there this week.
team "stout brown"
Fred Norquist, Niko Peha
you best watch yo back!
Team "C&K"
Scott Waidelich, Nick Hinds
Nice work on getting that new wood out boys!
so far we're up to 9 teams, which i think is what we had 2 years ago.
1. b.smith/t.gillman
2. c.tretwold/l.embertson
3. j.ehlinger/a.oberhardt
4. j.dufay/h.hannaway
5. f.norquist/n.peha
6. k.braunlich/l.geltman
7. s.waidelich/n.hinds
8. b.hawthorne/r.mckibbon
9. b.gavery/s.robinson
keep 'em coming!
Our official team announcement:
Team Robetussin
Brock Gavery
Shane Robinson
We were paddlin the robe before it was cool to paddle it - when everybody thought it was mank. Respect your elders!
Leif, love your photos but the local contrast enhancement (possibly USM) makes my eyeballs hurt.
don't want to jinx myself, but i'm liking our chances of having the race on the first weekend. since we have some interest coming from outside the seattle-bellingham zone, if the flows look favorable, i'd like to run the race on sunday. that will give the outta-towners a day to learn the lines. saturday would be a day for practice laps.
here's the lineup so far:
1. b.smith/t.gillman
2. c.tretwold/l.embertson
3. j.ehlinger/a.oberhardt
4. j.dufay/h.hannaway
5. f.norquist/n.peha
6. k.braunlich/l.geltman
7. s.waidelich/n.hinds
8. b.hawthorne/r.mckibbon
9. b.gavery/s.robinson
10. s.arns/m.kompass
11. k.olivier/??? (need partner)
well sharpen up your lines, then fellas-- I'm definitely throwing my helmet into the ring, I just got a call from someone else interested in a 'lil race'n!!
and some other talent may be on the way yet from further south-yall been warned!
-jP!!
Oh yeah-- My team mate is Darren Albright. I'll send you an email also, Todd.
Lookin forward to it!!
Team Australia:
Adrian Kiernan and Sean Bozkewycz
Never paddled the Robe but we're coming 30,000 km for the whitewater, the beer and the party...
boz
good plan, boz. my money is always on an aussie when it comes to winning the party.
we still need a couple volunteers for the finish line timekeeper duty. any help out there?
here the updated list of racers:
1. b.smith/t.gillman
2. c.tretwold/l.embertson
3. j.ehlinger/a.oberhardt
4. j.dufay/h.hannaway
5. f.norquist/n.peha
6. k.braunlich/l.geltman
7. s.waidelich/n.hinds
8. b.hawthorne/r.mckibbon
9. b.gavery/s.robinson
10. s.arns/m.kompass
11. j.prentice(jp)/d.albright
12. b.fletcher/a.johnson(aj)
Todd do we get to Race?! Not ONLY coming for the beer!
oh .. you were serious?
yep.. please enter us and we'll see you friday!
excellent! email me so i can get you on the email distribution list. toddgillman at gmail dotcom.
it's looking favorable for this coming weekend .. hoping to pull it off on sunday, which will give you a day for practice.
current list of racers:
1. b.smith/t.gillman
2. c.tretwold/l.embertson
3. j.ehlinger/a.oberhardt
4. j.dufay/h.hannaway
5. f.norquist/n.peha
6. k.braunlich/l.geltman
7. s.waidelich/n.hinds
8. b.hawthorne/r.mckibbon
9. b.gavery/s.robinson
10. s.arns/m.kompass
11. j.prentice(jp)/d.albright
12. b.fletcher/a.johnson(aj)
13. s.bozkewycz/a.kiernan
Updated List:
1. b.smith/t.gillman
2. c.tretwold/l.embertson
3. j.ehlinger/a.oberhardt
4. j.dufay/h.hannaway
5. f.norquist/n.peha
6. k.braunlich/l.geltman
7. s.waidelich/n.hinds
8. b.hawthorne/r.mckibbon
9. b.gavery/s.robinson
10. s.arns/m.kompass
11. j.prentice(jp)/d.albright
12. b.fletcher/a.johnson(aj)
13. s.bozkewycz/a.kiernan
14. b.xanthopoulis/m.colella
I don't see an e.schertzl, r.packwood, or an r.terry or r.trombone in the lineup.
-Effers
Great observation effers. Where is r. in truck? Or s. beetle? They would make a fine team.
Oh I'll be there bitches. My goal is to bring that DFL Gnome home to Bellingham. Robes are for Seattle pussies to wear to the local cupcake cafe.
Although...if Robe's low, then most everyone knows I have the fastest low-water lines out there. I kill the flatwater at low water.
~Shurdle~
"Rest" assured, R.I.Truck will be on hand... And speaking of Seattle pussies, Szhertyl will be around Robe on sunday too, but whether or not he'll bring a kayak - or just his hiking boots - is another matter altogether.
Yip yip .. we're up to 15 teams now:
1. b.smith/t.gillman
2. c.tretwold/l.embertson
3. j.ehlinger/a.oberhardt
4. j.dufay/h.hannaway
5. f.norquist/n.peha
6. k.braunlich/l.geltman
7. s.waidelich/n.hinds
8. b.hawthorne/r.mckibbon
9. b.gavery/s.robinson
10. s.arns/m.kompass
11. j.prentice(jp)/d.albright
12. b.fletcher/a.johnson(aj)
13. s.bozkewycz/a.kiernan
14. b.xanthopoulis/m.colella
15. j.gifford/e.smith
Ah, yeah! Schartzl has some of the very fastest flat water lines to date!! Especially if you dangle a beanie satchel just off the front of his boat.
A gnome's tiny hands got a hold of one of the Bhamsters last night. The outcome? A nasty swim resulting in a knee injury that will sideline a Robe Regular & all-around good guy. Bellingham favorites Tretwold-Embertson are now down one Embertson, whom we wish a speedy recovery. The agony of defeat.
Word on the street is that Tretwold is frantically scrambling for a sufficiently fast race partner, and that he's deliberating between the lesser of three evils: Erick Sherdtsle, Wayrad McGnarly, or a Riverboarder.
Discuss.
--Gnome Gnews Gnetwork.
Dang ... sorry to lose ya for the race l. embertson; I think your team was definitely a contender. Can the tretwald/mcgnarly team do as well as their inaugural performance?
Doesn't much matter, the Robes are stayin south of the Stilly!!
Anyway, I thought the riverboarder and sherdzzzle were already a team and they had been working on some crazy new sling-shot technique up on the Bend.
The Gnome Gnews Gnetwork must be a Fox News affiliate based in CO, by the tone of the post. What a bunch of dooshie CO transplants.
the race will be postponed until noon today due to fickle flows. The river is dropping at around .07 ft and hour. If we start the actual race around 1 or 2 then we should have a pretty reasonable flow, like 5.8ish.
It would be great to have people come out and maybe just run the river, be safety, or maybe just show others down the run. Lets make this a fun day even if mother nature didnt cooperate perfectly.
And there will still be a fun after party.
Also, Wayrad and I joining up to take the robes to bham today!
Chris
Kudos to Todd and Co. for putting on the race and supplying a bottomless cooler of beer. Flows kept it as a nail biter! Thanks to Chris and the bham crew for tendin' the grill. And bravo safety crew...sounds like there were some real clutch bags tossed around in there! Y'all rad!
Mr. Gnome made it safely to his new home in B'Ham. Surly little guy when he's been drinking those Ranger suds but he was tiered from a long day of layin smack down. He sure loves B'Ham though and much prefers our hippie speed balls in the morning over listening to you Latte Land boyz argue about how much milk to put in your americanos and what kind of cup cakes to get.
Congrats Fletcher + AJ and well done Todd, time keepers, and safety peeps. Papa brown rope did have some nice re-tosses of the throw bag, thanks buddy!
Stay tuned for the Gnomes summer adventures!
WayRad
Yeah guys, awesome event-thank you so much for making it happen- Secial thanks to Todd specifically for being the Engine That Could, Thanks to Tret for providing that engine with the fans and intakes needed to keep the engine cool! Everyone else who showed made it special- plenty of action and I'm glad flows kept us humble.
You guys sound bitter bout not takin the Robes North! Come on down to seattle an get yourself some cupcakes. They'll make ya feel better ;)
~ jP
Hello Todd!
I am working on a story for The Herald newspaper (Everett) about whitewater kayaking and I am desperate to talk to someone, anyone involved in the Robe Canyon event back in April. Our photographer, Matthew Williams, got some great shots of the event, but I’d love to talk to someone who was there ASAP so I can write a story for THIS SATURDAY, DUE THURSDAY, May 20.
Please call or write me ASAP at 425-339-3037 or sjackson@heraldnet.com.
Thanks!
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