Robe Canyon Downriver Race 2010!

The 2nd Robe Canyon Downriver race was a huge success this past weekend in Granite Falls, WA. Todd Gillman put on a great race, and there was a nice turnout of 16teams! The weekend started out nicely.. I finished classes on friday, and was stoked for the weekend to come. Saturday came and in the evening we met up with a great crew for some of their first times down Robe. Rodrigo, a good friend from Pucon, Chile even made it up for the fun.
The crew after a great saturday evening run. Left to right, Rodrigo, Mike, LJ, me, Kurt, Louis, and Niko. Photo:LJ

We drove back to Bellingham that night where we met with the largest of burritos! Casa Que Pasa is whats up(if ya know what i mean)
LJ diving into a class 5 burrito. Lj is used to stouts so it was no problem for him, he styled the line and ate the whole thing! Damn thats a burrito right there! Photo: Rodrigo

The morning dawned and we drove down to Robe with the flows looking higher than we expected(which was great, 5.8 might be the best Robe level out there, and we got to race on it!)

A super good showing of kayakers at the take out, ready for the day's festivities.
Photo:Rodrigo
Racers walking to the put-in. Photo by Ethan Smith. It was great to see so many teams fired up to race and tons of people just plain stoked to be out there. Gotta love events like this.. brings out the true kayakers. People are out there to have fun and run the river not to win any money at the end. I love the passion people have for our sport to all gather for such a fun grass-roots event.
Racers putting in on the flatwater above the run.There was a great showing! Photo: Ethan Smith.
The Racers getting ready for a great day. Somehow Niko and I missed this shot... Demshitz is out to lunch.
Lj looking onto Last Sunshine rapid, the third rapid of the run and indeed one of the sweetest.
Ethan Smith, Portland boater running last sunshine on a beautiful day.Photo: Cody Payne Thanks to Ethan for running safety/taking some great photos!
Chilean Paddler Rodrigo Tuschner running "da real shit" with that chilean estilo weon!
Rodrigo kills it and is always fired up to go kayaking, gotta love this guy, never seen a frown on his face when he's out on the rio. Check out his website, Kayak Pucon. If you ever go to chile, this guy knows the rivers super well and has a great shop in Pucon so make sure to visit his site before your next south american paddling adventure!
Rodrigo immersed in frothing brown that is Robe canyon.
Brian and Aaron Johnson, the winning team amidst some fun boogie just after last sunshine. Photo: Cody Payne
Kurt and Louis, the third place team killing it just below last sunshine, these guys are incredibly fast with some insane slalom skills. Photo: Cody
Me approaching last sunshine. Photo:Cody Payne
My teammate, Niko Peha killing it in the race on only his second time down the river! He styled every single rapid except for the last hole which got him good.... He did insanely good for only running it twice. Unfortunately he swam out of the last hole, but we had a great run otherwise and it was really fun running the rapids right after each other with Niko right on my tail. Good times.
Brian and AJ the winning team running super close at Last Sunshine. Photo:LJ
Kurt Braunlich lining up for last sunshine... This guy is such a stylie kayaker, absolutely crushes it.
Tretwold getting some vertical in Last Sunshine, the gnomes are strong here.
Me boofing Hotel California, a pretty big hole with Niko right behind me. Photo: Ethan Smith
Todd Gillman and Bryan Smith at Hotel California photo:Ethan Smith
Bryan Smith charging into the bottom of Hotel Cali... sick shot by Ethan Smith
A new-zealander boofs hotel california. Cool shot by LJ
Downstream view, LJ photo
Racers Paddling down from the finish line.
The Awards ceremony. It was great to have everyone there, a good group of paddlers for a super fun event.
Ben Hawthorne hands his Robe over to Brian Fletcher.
Chris Tretwold and Way-rad Mcgnarly got the Gnome to take home after swimming into the finish with pure style.(The gnome is the prize for the slowest team) Ethan Photo.
Here are the Final Results. an (s) means there was a swim involved.
(1) Aaron Johnson / Brian Fletcher (27:56)
(2) Rob McKibbin / Ben Hawthorne (28:45)
(3) Kurt Braunlich / Louis Geltman (29:07)
(4) Jon Prentice / Darren Albright (30:38)
(5) Sean Bozkewycz / Adrian Kiernan (31:59)
(6) Bryan Smith / Todd Gillman (32:52)
(7) Hale Hannaway / Jon Dufay (33:58)
(8) Brad Xanthopoulos / Marco Colella (34:23)
(9) Jonathan Ehlinger / Andrew Oberhardt (36:10)
(10) Scott Waidelich / Nick Hinds (36:41)(S)
(11) Steve Arns / Matt Kompass (36:50)
(12) Fred Norquist / Niko Peha (38:03)(S)
(13) Ken Olivier / Sam the Kiwi (40:27)
(14) Shane Robinson / Brock Gavery (40:54)(S)
(15) Don Beveridge / Darcy Gaechter (41:30)
(16) Chris Tretwold / Ryan Bradley (55:15)(S)

Overall it was a great weekend. Big thanks to Todd Gillman and the TRL boys for putting it on.
Photos by LJ, Ethan Smith, and Cody Payne.

Check back soon for a Robe Canyon Video