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2002 Cheat Race

Individual Results     Class Winners     Team Results

2002 Cheat Race summary Friday, May 3rd, 2002 Albright WV Story by Rick Gusic with photos by Julie Black. With thunderstorms pounding the Cheat watershed all week, many boaters' eyes were closely riveted to the gauges. By race day, the Cheat River would settle in at a level of 5 feet, (a pumping flow of close to 7,000 cfs). This was a level never seen before in the 7-year history of the race. While last year’s race (at 1.25) was forever known as the ‘low water race’, this would will be forever be known as the ‘big water’ race. By the time the race was over, the churning Cheat River ended up putting a real "hurting" on the boaters who strayed too far off the correct race line! Despite these almost flood conditions pumping in the canyon, 62 boaters would show up late Friday afternoon to sign up. For the 4th straight year, a new attendance record would be set, establishing the Cheat Race as one of the largest whitewater races in the country.

The story of this year’s race would be Big Nasty rapid and safety boater Richard Yester. Rich would be seen working frantically, rescuing and pulling in close to a dozen boaters would be trapped by the HUGE hydraulic at the bottom of Big Nasty rapid. A big thanks and shout out to Rich, who’s tremendous safety boating skills kept many of the racers going. As with other years, the Cheat Race kicked off with a mass start and everyone fought their way off of the starting line. This massive wave of paddlers was looking to get out ahead to the finish line that was located nearly 10 miles downstream.

Breaking out from the pack would be the 5 kayakers competing in downriver boats who jockeyed in and out of position until hitting the 3rd major rapid on the river, Big Nasty. Big Nasty is the signature rapid on the Cheat at high water. It is an imposing force as 3/4 of the river's 7,000 cfs funnels into a massive hydraulic. A hydraulic which easily flips and tosses around 20’ 10 person rafts. Needless to say, when US Wild Water Team member Simon Beardmore slipped off of line and accidently dropped into this hydraulic, his 24 pound downriver boat quickly found out it wasn’t as strong as a 20’ raft. Simon was quickly ejected and then his boat soon crushed into four pieces. Simon and his boat would soon float downstream and other racers helped him to shore. Simon would walk away unscathed, hike back to town and claim the "carnage" award, an 18x24 glossy poster from the movie Titanic, at the post race party later that evening. The remaining 4 front paddling racers would battle it out to the end. US Team Trials Champion and 1998 & 1999 Cheat Race Champ Andrew McEwen would claim the top prize with a course record of 55:11. Right behind Andrew, would be up-start newcomer Dave "the Irish hammer" Hammond, who only finished 24 seconds behind with a time of 55:35. Close behind those two was the 2001 defending champion Steve Kauffman, (57:31) with the always dangerous and quite unpredictable Brian Homberg, (57:40) finishing fourth.

Unlike other races, the Cheat Canyon Downriver Race also plays host to multiple classes for people racing in other types of boats. Three other boat classes would be held; featuring the race class; ‘A’, long boat,; ‘B’, and the short boat division class; ‘D’. In the Race Boat Class, Nate Ober (1:00:55), struggling student and poor raft guide, would pull out all the stops and some questionable techniques to pass race organizer Rick Gusic, who stopped to help a swimmer. Rick would chase after Nate but would never catch him, losing by 20 seconds. Nate would end up claiming the ‘B’ division title finishing 5th overall to Gusic's 6th place. Right behind Rick, finishing two minutes behind in 7th place, would be his fellow Mountain Streams guide, the pride of Harrisburg, Kevin Kurcina, who would get the 3rd place in the B class, Only 14 seconds behind Kevin would be the ‘C’ Class winner, Laurel Highland's most famous kayaker Bill Zollars paddling his trusty Perception Quest to a time of 1:03:26. Zollars was returning to the Cheat Race after a two year absence. Congrats to Bill who has now won the ‘C’ class title THREE times. Coming in behind Bill would be the Monocacy Canoe Club's top racer, DC native Kevin Williams and behind him, Friendville’s Scott Stough.

Other divisions would showcase the C1 and Open Canoe Class, which would see Steve Frazier once again dominate and crush his open canoe one bladed competitors for his 4th straight Cheat Race title! Steve has never been beaten in this race, so congratulations on a yet another job well done. In the C1 division, 2000 champion Neal Fleenor would return and capture his second title. The Women's Classes would shrink considerably this year as the high water would chase off many of the previous top women competitors. One women though would step up and take on the Cheat raging flood like waters. Morgantown’s Heather Rau would claim an impressive first place with a time of 1:20:13. The last division award would go in the Short Boat Class, masochists who love to compete in very slow boats under the length of 10 feet. With 24 kayaks in this hotly contested class, the battle would actually go on for days as the timekeepers made a mistake and declared a wrong winner. In the end, when the dust settled, longtime veteran and highly acclaimed kayaker Bob Gedekoh, who had placed third in the ‘C’ class in 1996 and 1998, would win his first class title with a time 1:07:22. Bob would beat out Harper Ferry resident, Scott "Battling" Butts (1:10:08) with the pride of Ohio, Dave Shannon, coming in third.

Other awards would also be handed out. A Team Competition was held featuring a record 10 different clubs, companies, and groups competing. Despite all the new teams, it was last year's champions that again emerged victorious. Claiming the corporate title again(rafting and other paddling related companies) was Team Mountain Streams, who spanked the field when it's team members claimed the 5th, 6th, and 7th place spots. Once again Mountain Streams dominantly showed which guides truly "know" the Cheat. The Club Title (paddling clubs) , would feature the Three Rivers Paddling Club, the Keelhaulers, Kent State Kayaking Club, and the WV Wild Water Association, all sending multiple teams. In the end, it would be the trash-talking boaters from the Kent State Paddling Club edging out their hated intrastate rivals, the Keelhaulers, whose two teams would finish 2nd and 3rd. Congratulations to all racers who competed this year. Thanks for attending and also displaying good sportsmanship by lending a hand to those racers who got in trouble. Many instances occurred in the race where competitors slowed down and even stopped to help those in trouble. Despite a broken boat and approximately 10 swims, everyone would get off the river reasonably safe and secure. Afterwards, the competitors would be shuttled back by Mountain Streams Outfitters to attend a post-race party with free cold brew and great prizes.

Thanks to the Race Sponsors. . . Prizes were handed out courtesy of Jeff Prycl, owner of Rocky Mountain Kayak located in New Stanton, Pennsylvania. Check out Rocky Mountain Kayak @ www.rockymountainkayak.com. For the 2nd straight year Jeff was the primary sponsor of the race, helping immeasurably in all aspects. Thanks Jeff! Other sponsors included Morgantown's West Virginia Brewery, who generously donated 2 kegs for this event's post-race party. Thanks goes out to Laurel Highlands Outfitters for letting the racers use their property, and to Mountain Streams who donated buses, trucks, vans and their home base for the festivities. Special Thanks. . . The Cheat Race is helped and run by the Friends of the Cheat, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to restore, preserve and promote the outstanding natural qualities of the Cheat River watershed. Special thanks goes to Executive Director Keith Pitzer for his great support in making this race happen. Please help support those businesses and groups above that were supportive of this event. Without their time and money, this great race wouldn't be possible. See you all next year!