Welcome back to another of the TNR weekly update. You could say this week was a bit difficult for most as the Red Bull Take Over presented challenges both before and during the race. I hope every one of you sends Mike D a thank you card next Christmas as his efforts before the race may have outweighed his efforts during the race. Around 3:30 PM is when Mike and I planned to meet to set up the course for the evening. We both arrived shortly after 3:45 PM had a quick chat and began blowing up the inflatable paddock. Theoretically, this was a straight forward job. Blow up the inflatable thingy, tie it together and the anchor is out in the cove. Easy right? And for Mike and I, two very competent, strong, good looking men, it should have been…
Lets fast track to 45 minutes before race time. The inflatable paddock does not look like an inflatable paddock and its windier than a baked-bean convention with a thousand delegates… if you catch my drift. As our inflatable corral was twisting and turning Mike and me kept pulling the anchors up time and time again moving them and dropping them. This process went on for almost an hour at which point we both decided that it was as good as it was going to get. And of course, 10 mins after we stopped so did the wind… but that’s just life for you.
This weeks course consisted of a beach start, swim, and four laps around a buoy course. The swim made for some exciting finishes as it was just long enough to affect the race. In the Surfski division, It was Seth who took the overall victory after a rather lackluster swim. While Daryl Remmler and Russ Stothers looked like a couple of fish in the sea as they rounded out the top 4. The surf skis were chaotic as they were all pushing and shoving each other around the paddock.
For the first time, I think in TNR history, we had the dragon boat team race. It both amazing an terrifying at the same time to watch them speed around the course. As they were all yelling and screaming at people to get out of the way you were not quite sure if you were about to get hit or not. Regardless it was great to see them out on the water competing in a fun and unique event. Also a big shout out to John Joyce! Who took on the Red Bull challenge and proved that age is just a number. You are looking good John!
The SUP division went a little more smoothly as the paddlers didn’t have to try and self rescue a skinny race boat. Racers swimming abilities were prominent in this race as Life Guard extraordinaire Shannon Bell and Gary Parsons had this race marked on their calendars. As soon as they hit the water, they were off to the races leaving most of the pack behind in seconds. Mike D regained first after struggling to get his board out of the paddock. Gary and Shannon took home 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Also, Warren Bruce was a pleasant surprise as he decided to SUP the challenge and fared quite well in the swim. Great job Warren! Best swimming technique goes to Carmen as she was using two flip flops and the backstroke to out swim the competition.
At the end of the day the people got what they asked for, something different and exciting than the usual. This race was very different from most and came together nicely. A big thanks to Deep Cove Kayak and Red Bull for making this happen. We hope to have many more events like this one in the future. See you all next week which is sponsored by Garage Guru.
Cameron Underhill
Race photos click here:
Race Results click here;
