The Loyalsock and Tiadaghton Races.
The Most Fun Weekend of the Year.
These two races are always hometown favorites for me and they are always the most fun because usually I get to do them K-2 with Kathy Kenley. They're also fun because of the camaraderie, which begins on Friday night with a PACK picnic for everyone. The Tiadaghton offers pizza for lunch on Saturday, adding to the camaraderie of the weekend.
For the race itself, thankfully our Tiadaghton race organizers recognized that the ICF K-2s in the race were the tippiest boats out there and difficult to keep upright in a mass of pro C-2s in a combined start. So the K-2s, all two of us, were allowed to have an earlier start. Gary Ballina and Ron Kaiser lined up on one side of the river, and way on the other side, Kathy and I lined up. The boys out ran us right away, but Kathy and I followed along. Being a heavier team, when the guys got into the shallows, Kathy and I could tell exactly where not to go. We teased them about that at the turns, but the funniest moment of the Tiadaghton came after the race when Gary asked me humorously, "Wasn't that start hellacious?"
The next day, at the Loyalsock race, Kathy and I got in the water last and were still 100 yards upstream, facing the wrong way, when the starting gun was heard. That was our fault as we heard the starters tell us to get to the start line well ahead of time and we didn't do it. We started last and we stayed in that position. We were having a great time even though we were far behind everyone else. The funniest moment of this race came when the rescue powerboat came speeding upriver toward us near the end to check on us. As the rescue guys slowed their powerboat, a huge wave was generated from their hull dropping. They yelled, "Are you ladies ok?" We cheerfully yelled back, "We're fine, just slow," and we couldn't help but laugh really hard at the irony of being swamped by the rescue boat.
Both races offer classes for everyone, this is a true family atmosphere weekend, and it's a weekend that I thoroughly enjoy.
It was a good two days.