Russel Fork Rendezvous & Race

Come out the last weekend in October to see some of the best paddlers in the country as they descend into the mountains of Breaks Interstate Park to test their skills in one of the country's most extreme kayaking races! Professional and amateurs alike will attempt to maneuver their 11 foot race boats thru some of the most treacherous whitewater on the east coast. The race will begin at 2pm sharp in the flatwater pool above the rapid know as "lets make a deal". There will be plenty of groups meeting at Ratliff hole saturday morning to hike into the gorge to watch the race! So come on out and enjoy the race and the festival in Elkhorn city following the race! For more information visit www.russellfork.info and http://russellforkrace.blogspot.com.

Big South Fork

We finally had one of our more local rivers available to run on Sunday. The Big South Fork was at about 2800cfs so Josh and I decided to get down there before the drought resumes. We met up with Bryon, Adam and Jason from the Vikings and ran from the confluence to the O & W Bridge. It was a great day of paddling, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else on a warm Sunday afternoon.

No problems with any of the rapids, the level was a little on the washed out side, making things easier for the most part. Josh did have a little shoulder scraping on Cheese Grater rock below The El.

Here is an account of the weekend at the Big South Fork from Barry Grimes. He details the permit situation at O&W and explains why the Big South Fork was so muddy this weekend. Link

Bourbon City Challenge TV Spot

Bulleit Bourbon Adventure Race

"Explore Your Frontier Responsibly"

Bulleit Bourbon is now the title sponsor of the Bourbon City Challenge Adventure Race. The event will be Sunday Sept. 9, 2007 leading off the week of the Kentucky Bourbon Festival and will be held at the Bardstown-Nelson County Airport (a.k.a. Samuel’s Field) at 9 a.m. on the tarmac. Registration begins at 7:45. Camping available for participants on Sept. 8 at Horizon Hoppers.

All the details for the race can now be found in one place at: kyrace.com

Cleanup Organizers: Tell Your Story

Thank you to those of you who have reported back to us about your cleanup! We, at American Rivers, are overwhelmed by what has been accomplished this year. Nearly 95,000 volunteers (a more than 50% increase over 2006) have removed more than 600 tons of trash from more than 7,000 river miles. Visit Trash Talkin', the National River Cleanup Week blog, for more of this year's cleanup stats.

Gathering all of your accomplishments and getting the chance to speak with many of you about your cleanups has been the most rewarding part of this whole year for me -- I feel so honored to be involved with your work through National River Cleanup Week! Trash Talkin' has been created so that you can share your experiences both with one another and the rest of the country. As an extra incentive, after entering your story you'll be automatically entered to win one of four high-performance Extrasport pfds.

Here’s all you need to do –

• Visit Trash Talkin'
• Scroll down to the "share your cleanup story" link.
• Enter your comment in the new window
• Give yourself a name
• And publish your story!

HEATHER HAMILTON
Cleanup Week Coordinator
American Rivers
1101 14th St. NW, Suite 1400
Washington, DC 20005

Adventure Race Registration

REGISTER NOW

Registration is now open for the Bourbon City Challenge! To register for the Adventure race just complete an online form here. It's that simple.

You can also download the flyer for the Bourbon City Challenge.

Beech Fork Estates

If anyone is looking for a place right on the Beech Fork just down from the future site of the Bardstown Whitewater Park, you should check out the land at Beech Fork Estates.

Beech Fork Estates Website
Realtor.com

• Located in historic Bardstown Kentucky.
• Selling 105 tracks starting at $10,000/acre, ranging from 1 to 10 acres.
• On new blacktop roads with city water and other utilities.
• Restricted to a minimum of 1400 sq. ft. brick homes with 2 car garages.

Bourbon City Challenge - Adventure Race

This race incorporates running, trail-running and navigation, paddling and pedaling to the tune of nearly 20 miles of combined travel around Bardstown - The Capital of the World‘s Bourbon-Making.

Date: Sept. 9, 2007 at the Bardstown-Nelson County Airport (a.k.a. Samuel’s Field) at 9 a.m. on the tarmac. Registration begins at 7:45. Camping available for participants on Sept. 8 at Horizon Hoppers

THE RACE COURSE

RUN
Racers begin with a 2 mile paved run up the taxi-way and back down the runway to a gated entrance to the property alongside Sympson Lake. From the gate, racers proceed northeast 1 mile with a trail run to place where all established trails end. Navigate nor’eastward the rough trails, animal trails and the creature infested woodland, skirting the lake, to Ben Irvin Road without going onto private property.
Once hitting Ben Irvin Road, racers proceed ¼ mile downhill (northeast) to boat ramp (i.e. paddling transition area.)

PADDLE
Upon putting in, paddlers go southwest 1 mile to 1st cove (round first buoy) then ¾ mile across lake to the back of White’s Camp Cove (round second buoy), then straight back to ramp 1.2 miles
After reaching boat ramp, racers proceed to 1/10 mile northeastward to bike transition area

BIKE
Racers then proceed on 8-mile, open road bike race leg of race: From Sympson Lake pedal along 2737 to Green County Sport Parachute Center on Airport Road; from there down Airport Road to Barnes Road, left onto Barnes to Wheeler, Right on Wheeler, then follow Wheeler back around to 2737 and back toward boat ramp. Racers pass boat ramp and continue pedal to the end of 2737. Take a right turn onto Templin Avenue, a right turn on Fifth Street, a right on Broadway and continue straight to U.S. 62. Take a right on U.S. 62, cross over the Withrow Creek Bridge and continue uphill to airport on right. Racers finish Bike Leg and race (other than special events) at American Flag in Front of Horizon Hoppers Adventure Services at the traffic circle in front of the airport..

A plane pull (or bus pull) challenge will top off the event. Racers must pull a plane or bus 50 feet before the race is considered finished. This is a strength test only and doesn’t affect time. Must only be completed. Several vehicles will be on hand for a tug, just in case two individuals finish close together. In the event of a bottleneck. The time the racer arrived at the American Flag at the Finish Line, will be used to determine the winner, so long as that racer successfully completed the plane or bus pull.

Race Categories:
Male (1st and 2nd place awards)
Female (1st and 2nd place awards)
Relay Team (1st and 2nd place awards) For Relay: a team of two, three or four persons may split events of the race however they choose. Racers are responsible for their own logistics or getting to transition areas. The team must present a card stamped completed for all event legs.

Racers needs:
Bike of their own, Personal boat (optional) canoes and kayaks available with entry fee, Compass.
Racers are responsible for dropping their boats and bikes off at transition areas. We recommend locking everything. We will not be responsible for any gear tampered with or stolen.

Entry Fee:
$25 per person (rental paddle boats, canoes and kayaks first come first serve (40 total) for additional $20)
Entry fee includes gift bag, T-shirt, chance at door prizes.

Winnings:
Each winning person or team receives a trophy and prize package (cash or valuable items donated by our sponsors) Prize packages worth no less than $100 per person for 1st place, no less than $50 for second. Prizes depend on sponsors.


Participants may register by phone at 502-572-5419 or by mail, checks approved.

Adventure Race
c/o
BOB WHITE
P.O. Box 1173
Bardstown, KY 40004

Anyone with questions or suggestions call, Bob White at 502.572.5419

Pigeon & Ocoee

Josh and I shoved off today for our "Week of Rivers". But since the south east is so dry it's going to look more like a "Week of Ocoee". We did run the Pigeon earlier and that was fun. Now we are in Sevierville with a busted water pump and an overheated Jeep. It's all good though because we stopped at Advanced Auto and they called in a mechanic for us. 4th of July and all he's going to hook us up. Price sounds pretty reasonable too. So far so good. Ocoee tomorrow...

Later in the evening...

It's late and the jeep is not fixed. We are now parked at a sit and sleep furniture and matress superstore overlooking the car dealership. Fireworkks are going off all around Pigeon Forge and the Sevierville area. We are waiting for morning so we can get this water pump fixed. Our mechanic at Autozone couldn't get the fan disassembled so now we are going with plan B. Hopefully we can get this fixed quickly in the morning and get down to the Ocoee to meet up with the others.

Josh is cooking dinner behind the car and I am getting ready to sleep in the passenger seat. Kayaking is always an adventure. Even off of the river.

Day 02 & 03

On Thursday after a very long wait on getting the jeep fixed, this after sleeping behind a furniture store, we finallly made it to the Ocoee. The water was about to be shut off so with just 30 minutes of release left we hurried and shoved off.

We met John and Chris at the put in and booked it down. The water holds for about an hour after they shut it off so we made it down with no problems.

We camped at Thunder Rock. Good times were by all.

Right now I am relaxing at Hell Hole after day 03. Josh and John are making their second lap and I am eating and surfing. More good times were had today.

Day 04

Today some more Vikings rolled in while some others headed off to the Cheoah. We stayed at the Ocoee for another run on the middle section.

I was a little off today with my rolling, having a close call at Broken Nose. I rolled in the entrance and barely caught the last eddy before the right side. Then just below that I flipped again on Slice and Dice. I did manage to roll up without hitting the rocks like I did on day 02, but it took too many roll attempts. It all boiled down to the fact that after 3 days of straight paddeling I was dog tired. I manned up for the rest of the run with no problems, but I played much less to save my energy.

4 days of paddling has been great. I'll probably take it easy tomorrow the last day.

Taylorsville Lake Clean Sweep

Just wanted to invite you to participate in the Taylorsville Lake Clean Sweep Event. It will take place Septmeber 29 at 8:00am at the Possum Ridge Shelter House in the Park. We would love to have your participation and help getting the word out. You can contact Angela Kessans or the USACE Visitor's Center at 502-477-8882 if you have any questions or need anything further. There will be prize give-aways, free lunches, tee-shirts and more!