August 27, 2009

photos by Mike Muir

Once again the SUP Gods have blessed another race with exceptional weather. The morning started out at a cool crisp 37 degrees and by noon we were approaching 77 degrees.

Only in Tahoe can you get a 40-degree temperature shift from morning to afternoon. We arrived before dawn wishing we had worn shoes and long pants and waited for the field to arrive and begin the ritual of looking over each other’s equipment and taking story. Phil and his crew rolled in around 6:45 am and began the check in process as the sun started to rise over the Carson Range. By 7:45 the racers were ready and started to line up and enter the water. Soon all the racers were lined up and ready for the long 22 miles lay ahead of them. The chase boat got in position and the horn sounded and off they went all 54 paddlers.

As we watched the last racer disappear on the horizon we got in our vehicles and joined with the others who were Driving the one hour distance to Kings Beach at the north end of the lake. The beach was all but deserted when we arrived at Kings Beach. The timing crew arrived and started setting up the finish line while vendors began putting up their tents preparing to show off their new equipment. The sun continued to warm things up as more and more people began to arrive to meet the racers.

Someone spotted a racer in the distance and the speculation began as to who it could be leading the pack. It soon became clear we had 2 leaders one prone paddler followed by a Standup paddler. As they got closer it became clear that the leader was a prone paddler followed closely by a lone Standup paddler. After about 30 minutes the rest of the pack started to come into view and people started to position them selves to start cheering the racers as they approached the finish line.

The first person to finish was Tod Robinson a prone paddler riding a Bark with a winning time of 3:33:58 followed closely by Rand Carter the first SUP racer also on a Bark with a time of 3:37:45.The pack continued coming every few minutes until the last racer crossed the line on a stock SUP with a time of 5:53:19.

Everyone took stock of him or her selves to assess how he or she were feeling after such a long distance paddle, some were visibly shaken while others looked like they had just taken a walk around the block.

We soon headed up to Jason’s Beachside Grille for a much-needed lunch and the awards presentation. Phil passed out the awards to the winners while a very enthusiastic crowd cheered on each winner. It was a great ending to a great day of racing.

SUP Unlimited

1^st Place Rand Carter

2^nd Place Dan Gavere

3^rd Place David Defoe

SUP Stock

1^st Place Robert Stehlik

2^nd Place Mark Field

3^rd Place Kevin Seid

Women SUP Stock

1^st Place Kristyn Lingenfelter

2^nd Place Denise Schutte

3^rd Place Betsy Cole

Women SUP 14’

1^st Place Lel Tone

2^nd Place Marcie Ristich

Prone Unlimited:

1^st Place Tod Robinson

2^nd Place Nick Bobroff

3^rd Place Mike Mcdaniel

Prone 14’

1^st Place Mike Jones

2^nd Place Lars Shilling

3^rd Place Steve Henry