Money Back Guarantee #1 (Kayak Session 2014 Green Race Coverage with Shane Benedict)
It’s that time of year again! With the Green Race less than a week away, paddlers are skipping class, calling in sick, and doing whatever else it takes to race to the Green from all over the country and across various ponds and borders. The water levels are perfect, and the folks at the power station who feed the river have been cooperating very well. We have had long water releases the last couple weeks that have allowed paddlers to put in lots of training runs. This past weekend, the parking lot was full of vehicles stuffed with paddlers. Long boats hung from the top of every car 5 and 6 wide and double stacked. Even the weather has been absolutely beautiful. We are just hoping the weather holds. It looks like it will get a little chilly down in the gorge for the spectators on race day as the temps are supposed to drop near 50 and the sun doesn’t shine along the banks near Gorilla, but it will be a perfect day for racing.
©shane benedict – kayaksession.com
The weekend before the race is one of the biggest of the year for many racers because they face two major challenges: the Russell Fork race on Saturday and as many practice runs on the Green as they can squeeze in on Sunday. Many Russel Fork racers made the solid 4 hour drive from the Green to the Russell Fork Saturday morning to compete and then drove all the way back to Asheville the same day. On Sunday, everyone squeezes in race laps critical to dialing in their lines.
©shane benedict – kayaksession.com
I love the weekend before the Green Race because of the energy that fills the gorge. On Saturday, while all the super star racers are up at the Russell Fork, the nervous happy energy of first time racers, old die-hard locals, and people just happy to be out on the river during the perfect cool crisp fall days of the southern US blankets the river. On Sunday the pros come out in force. They bring a frenetic pace and intense focus to the river. Not to say there aren’t a bunch of smiles and festivities going on out there, but as one Green local put it, “you better look upstream this weekend before you pull out into the current, because it’s more like merging onto the interstate than peeling out.” No kidding: on Sunday I was filming at Gorilla and saw no fewer than 10 people paddle through the monkey in less than a minute. That is flying a tight Blue Angel formation.
©shane benedict – kayaksession.com
This will be the 19th Annual Green Race and the excitement and intensity mirrors that I remember from the very first year. We can no longer fit all the racers into one van, and there are actually spectators not related to the competitors. We’ve come a long way. The scale and scope of the event are all out of whack, yet the feeling is the same.
The theme is “Money Back Guarantee,” but the experience is priceless
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