the Way of the Turtle

No Paddling Saturday...
Thursday, April 28, 2011 

Recently Ann and I discussed how high and fast the Genesee River was flowing through Genesee Valley Park and wondered about the paddling portion of this Saturday's Flower City River Challenge Triathlon - today I got the answer, which is the paddle leg has been replaced by a 2nd running leg (so everyone is now doing a duathlon.) I'm not at all surprised - Yellowjacket Racing is always very concerned about athlete safety and it's clear that being on the river this weekend would be very unsafe. Not only is the water flowing almost 6 times faster than it was last year (11300 cfs compared to 1800 cfs) but there is also a good deal of debris moving in the water as well. As much as I enjoy the change of pace that the paddle leg offers, I really didn't want to be out on the water in current conditions, so I won't miss the paddle at all. And it has suddenly become a lot easier to prep for the race - I no longer need to mount the roof rack and load up the kayak and associated gear, drop all that off before parking the car, and then load it all back up after the race. All things considered, a very positive development on my end of things!

JMH