[mfdanko99]

My Red Mo Race Review
It was a great weekend filled with surprises left and right.

Saturday started rough for me and Jessica. As we made our way down to the put in I crossed the bridge over the creek and saw a turn around. I pulled into the little area and as I stopped the ground gave way and the front of the truck fell into a ditch leaving me at a 45 degree angle. I was unable to back out and had to get towed out.
Once that was over and we got everything unloaded and registered we got our shuttle done.

There was a bit if a wait before the race and they explained how it started with 2 minute introverts between classes.

At the Start of the race it was clear and temperature was 29 degrees.
American Whitewater gauge was 532cfs.

I learned a lot really quick. I was in the OC1 over 13ft long canoe class. When I got on the water I heard the others talking about there Kevlar & Fiberglass canoes. One guy called my scout a hog.
Plus I realized they were a lot narrower than mine canoe and a true solo canoes not a tandem canoe like mine.

My Start letter was group N which had OC1 13ft under & my OC1 13 longer. Total of 10 Canoes.

For the first four miles I was with the pack and hanging in there. I learned really quick my J stroke was to slow, had to switch to a goonie stroke with sharp corrections and side to side switching more than I normally do and I am upset with myself as it takes more energy to do that.

Then the guy behind me hit my right stern side and it spun me like a top and took me a while to recover. Now I am really behind trying to catch up.

As I was starting to get gain on him I came across a tandem canoe that flipped and one paddler floating down river unable to get to shore, I had him grab my Stern Painter and towed him to shore as rescue crews where on there way.

Then with just over a mile left I found a kayaker flipped and unable to get his kayak to shore. I used my canoe to get it to shore and get him out of the water as rescue crews were coming on 4 Wheeler's

I finished strong as I could the last mile. I have never been so exhausted after a paddle.

During the paddle we had 4 season in one event. We had cloudy skies, Sunny Skies, Rain & Blizzard whiteout Snow.

This is a great class I/II creek that I would consider a step up from Beaver Creek and a step down from the Connoquenessing Creek.

I am sorta disappointed in my time but I am glad I helped fellow paddlers and not just past them by like other paddlers did.

My over all stats
7.2 Miles
4th out of 5 paddlers in the OC1 over 13ft Canoes
1 hr and 8 minutes
Average MPH 6.1
Fasted Mile was 7.3 MPH