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1997 Cheat Race

Individual Results     Class Winners

May 4th, 1997 Albright, West Virgina This past Friday, the second running of the Cheat Canyon Race would take place, building upon its first year’s success. Many of the same key participants would return again to battle for the title, in ideal racing conditions with the water level around 2.75 on the route 26 bridge. Unfortunately for all the participants, the prior years title holder, Roger Zbel, would show up to defend his crown. Roger would build an early lead and win yet again, with a time of 44:26. Two minutes, thirty-six seconds behind, Steve Kauffman, last years runner-up, would again settle for the Silver, completing the course in 47:02. Following the front two would be the rest of the wildwater boats, with Jeff Snyder (47:10), Brian Homberg (47:45), and Rick Gusic (48:55) all coming in a minute or so behind Steve.

In the ‘B’ division, used for Wavehoppers, sea kayaks and other racing style boats, Mike Herrera would finally get his revenge for his 22 second loss to Phil Coleman in last years race. In that event, Coleman had thrown a banana at Herrera, in the middle of high falls rapid, knocking him off stride. This year, Herrera would leave nothing to chance and race out, completing the course in 50:17 (6th overall), 29 seconds ahead of Phil. Phil would have to settle for 2nd in the class and 7th overall, still heading back to his Costa Rican Banana farm with something to shout about. In the ‘C’ division, which is pretty much any boat that doesn’t fit into the above two categories, Pittsburgh native and Laurel Highlands guide Billy Zollars would win his second consecutive C class title and also finish 10th overall. Over in the women’s division, Colleen Laffey, racing a Perception Wavehopper, would take the women’s B class and overall title with a time of 55:18. Last years overall winner, Jan Steckel, would settle for second overall amongst the women and 1st in the women’s ‘C’ division, with a time of 56:38.