20 May 2012

Moriston River Race 2012

So the day had come. I had never paddled the Moriston before but I was ready for my first taste of it.

I had an hour and a half for practice runs and to scout the lines out so I walked up to the top with my boat scouting out the river picking my lines as I went. I then got to the got to the put in and all I could hear was the sound of the dam with all the water crashing down. I put my spraydeck on and seal launched in and then paddled over to the dam, I started to break in and out of the eddy that the water coming down that the dam made; I had warmed up and was ready for my first taste of the Moriston. My two practice runs went well, Getting all of my lines and doing them in what  thought were good times considering I was eddying in and out and taking my time. It was now time for the race.

Time had come for the race brief; we were told that there was going to be 2 minute intervals between each competitor. I was bib number 25 so I had enough time to watch other peoples run’s before I walked up top to get ready. As bib number 24 went, I got in my boat and put my deck on, double checking that it was securely on. My time had come, the countdown began and I seal launched in and started paddling as fast as I could towards the first drop. When I got to the drop I was thinking to myself that I will try and go a bit more river right as it might be a bit quicker... it wasn’t. I slid into the slot, which popped my deck and dented the nose of my boat. I rolled up and noticed that my kayak was full of water, despite this I decided to keep on paddling with my deck off. I managed to get past the next 2 set of rapids before my nose started to sink which then ended up in me swimming. I started to float down the next 2 set of rapids and that is when I started to hit a few rocks, which were quite hard. I decided I had enough of this, so left my boat and paddle and swam to the side. Noticing that my legs were rather bashed up, I swam to the other side and went to see the paramedics, who advised me to rest it and not to paddle my second run. As well as this I also got an hour penalty for not finishing, as you could imagine, I wasn’t happy about this but couldn’t do anything about so I just watched the rest of the participants come down.






After a while, I decided that I was going to complete my second run, it might not have been the best idea but I didn’t want to come all this way to compete in the MRR and end p not even finishing. I went back up to the start, got in my boat, pulled my deck back on and sealed launched back in for my second attempt. I was a bit more cautions this time after my first run, but this time the first drop went well. With my legs hurting, I battled on throughout all the other rapids and managed to finish in a time of 04:06:57. 





Winner: Pete Scutt - 03:17:54
Second: Matty Nicholas - 03:17:76
Third: Ed Smith - 03:18:48

Pete Scutt  03:15:36  Fastest single run
Sandra Hyslop  02:25:39  Fastest female
Thomas Findlay  02:39:29  Under 16


Video of swim - https://vimeo.com/41807029
Video of Lower moriston - https://vimeo.com/42081473
Video of Lower Moriston by Daniel Stillhttps://vimeo.com/42462503