Winter 100K Race
Jan. 24th, 2015
by Bruce Bodson
The 2015 edition of the Texas Winter 100 Kilometer race was about as different from the 2014 version as you can get. In 2014 the temperature at the start was 26 degrees; in 2015 it was 38 degrees. In 2014 the gauge height at Austin was about 10.5 feet; in 2015 it was about 14 feet. The Bastrop gauge was at 2.6 feet in 2014 and at 7.0 feet in 2015. The only real similarity was the morning mist and distance.
This year the Club had three members participating, Darren Metcalf and Bruce Bodson in the Adventure Class men’s’ solo and David Jacobs in the Competition Class men’s’ solo. Harmon Everett and Terry Herdlicka came out in the wee hours to see the start and stayed until we were all off the river.
The Adventure Class started at 05:00, in the dark and a heavy river mist, which made navigation a bit tricky until about 07:00.
Terry, Harmon and Bruce at the start, under the 1-35 bridge.
The river was fast and the obstructions were, for the most part, under water too deep to matter. It had also settled down sufficiently to where there were no logs, chicken coops or old Studebakers racing with us.
Really about perfect conditions. A few of the eddies were trickier than is usual on that stretch, but nothing hard to manage.
We all managed to finish while the sun was up- another difference from last year.
Dave Jacobs finished in 10 hours 14 minutes, which was 8th in class.
I finished in 10 hours 18 minutes, which was 3rd in class.
Darren finished in 10 hours 54 minutes, which was 6th in class.
As usual the TWO was a really entertaining race. This was the fifth running, of which I have done four and it’s been fun every time, despite rain, wind, ice and rocks. I recommend it to anyone who wants to try river racing. It also features the tradition of post-race chili, this year prepared by Jeanette Burris and Michael Dey. It really warms you up after a long cold day paddling.
Note that all pictures in this report were taken by Patty Geisinger, who chronicles all of these events, even when she has no family racing.
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| The author, Bruce Bodson |