2008 Results!

photo nick gottlieb

so this being the 5th anniversary of racing the wells, you may be thinking i've gotten you a nice anniversary present... but seeing that wood is the customary gift, i'm just going to give you the results and hope you'll keep coming back anyway.

another great race this year. good weather, good turnout. best level for the wells race yet ~400cfs. gave 'er a little more cushion. (all photos by patrick rogers www.kayakingphotos.com, unless by nick gottlieb as noted)


the racers listen to the format changes.

this year we did 2 runs of the river.
first run was split into 4 sprints. first sprint (mrs. golden's sprint) was mass start to seed heats. after that we split into heats of 4 or so paddlers each to do the next 3 sprints. you accrued points based on finish order in your heat in each sprint... 1st got you 4pts, 2nd 3pts etc etc. then on the second run we did mass start full length race. points awarded in the same fashion... 17pts for 1st, 16pts for 2nd etc.

there was some great head to head action...





some nice glamour shots...

mr. mcgregor's garden (photo gottlieb)


strauss gutting el salto (photo gottlieb)

and longboat champ john gerstenberger with some pretty boatin...



some excellent carnage...





and good stories to tell...


the results:

name sprint 1... heat... sprint 2... sprint 3... sprint 4... full course... total
John Gerstenberger 4... 1... 4... 4... 4... 17... 33
Jolyon Pruszinski 4... 2... 4... 4... 3... 15... 30
Jeff Sharpe 4... 3... 4... dnf ... 3 ... na ... 11
James Sullivan 4... 4 ... 3... 2... 2... 11 ... 22
Ben Koons 3... 1... 3... 2... 3 ... 12 ... 23
Justin Crannell 3... 2... 3... 3... 4 ... 14 ... 27
Tom Ebert 3... 3... 3... 4 ... 4... 13... 27
Jason Laselva 3... 4... 2... 4... 3... 7 ... 19
Kevin McGregor 2... 1... 2... 3 ... 2... 8 ... 17
Zoe Acher 2... 2... 2... 2... 2... 6 ... 14
Leanne Bernier 2... 3... 2... 3... 2... 4 ... 13
Owen Cadwalader 2... 4... 1... 3... 1... 10... 17
Tony Rector 1... 1... 1... 1... 1... 9 ... 13
Eric Klem 1... 2... 1 ... 1... 1 ... 2 ... 6
David Strauss 0... 4... 4... 1... 4 ... 16... 25
Jay Brazier 0... -... 0 ... 0... 0 ... 3... 3
Alex Toth 0... -... 0... 0... 0 ... 5 ... 5

final placing... class... class placing... boat
1 John Gerstenberger... Long... 1st LB... Pirouette S
2 Jolyon Pruszinski ... Long... 2nd LB... T-Canyon
3 Justin Crannell... Short ... 1st SB... Magnum
3 Tom Ebert... Short... 2nd SB... M-3
5 David Strauss... Long... 3rd LB ... Dancer
6 Ben Koons... Short... 3rd SB ... Remix
7 James Sullivan... Short ... 4th SB ... Habitat
8 Jason Laselva ... Short ... 5th SB ... Magnum
9 Kevin McGregor... Short... 6th SB tie ... Mamba?
9 Owen Cadwalader... Short ... 6th SB tie ... Jefe
11 Zoe Acher ... Short... 8th SB ... Burn
12 Leanne Bernier... Short ... 9th SB tie ... Huck
12 Tony Rector ... Short ... 9th SB tie ... Mystic
14 Jeff Sharpe ... Long... 4th LB ... Pirouette
15 Eric Klem ... Short... 11th SB ... Micro 250
16 Alex Toth ... Short ... 12th SB ... Recoil?
17 Jay Brazier ... Short ... 13th SB ... M3

Winners took home their very own super-sweet rumble-champ hoody!
Still River Outfitters had some great prizes for top finishers including noseplugs, a drybag, and a bunch of gift-certificates.


justin crannell taking home his shortboat champ hoody

and now for a little tip for the shortboats for next year...
a new and convincing shortboat raceline has been opened up on the el salto falls by this year's winner justin crannell. check the photos:








notice how ben starts out in front, swings river right to run the falls, while justin heads left. justin drops to the left of the normal left line, shoots down the bedrock, away from the hole and zips to the front. tom (who was in 3rd) drops the normal left side line, hits the hole, flips and ends up tied with ben, with justin gone out in front. take heed for next year folks.


and then of course the old race line remains the only option for the long boats:


peace friends, God bless you
and see you next year
jolyon