For the second time, Hardeman County, Tennessee, invited paddlers from all around to race on its scenic Hatchie River.  The Hatchie heads up in north Mississippi, meanders in a northwesterly direction through west Tennessee, and terminates at its confluence with the Mississippi River.  The race course, which started at the U.S 64 bridge and finished at the Tennessee 18 bridge, took paddlers through a particularly beautiful area of forested bottomland with no development on the riverbanks and no channelization of the riverbed.

The 2002 race had been a high-water affair, as rain from Tropical Storm Isidore had hiked the water level up over 16 feet at the U.S. 64 bridge.  This year, the level was a more normal seven-and-a-half feet--slower-moving but still plenty deep for all craft.      When the gun went off, the racing kayaks, the fastest of all paddlesport craft, shot into the lead, with Joe Royer, David Senter, Elmore Holmes, and Wim Nouwen forming a pack in the early going.  After about two miles Royer and Holmes were alone in the lead, taking turns riding each other's wake and awaiting an opportunity for a decisive move.  Holmes finally found it about two-thirds of the way through the race: as he and Royer negotiated a tight turn, their boats bumped and disrupted their stroke rhythm.  Holmes regained control a split-second faster than Royer did and used the opportunity to make a break.  He pulled away in the final couple of miles for a victory margin of 58 seconds.      Senter and Nouwen finished third and fourth after spending most of the race all alone ("I was beginning to wonder whether I'd taken a wrong turn," Senter said).  Carol Lee Royer defended her title as the fastest woman, bettering the inexperienced but improving Tonya Tittle.

Few sights are more beautiful than a pack of canoes and kayaks stirring the waters of a scenic river.  The second annual Hatchie race is underway, with (from left) David Senter, Joe Royer, Elmore Holmes, and Wim Nouwen on the front line.  Wayne Lichliter (orange boat) hitches a ride on Holmes's wake.  Carol Lee Royer, the eventual female winner, is several boatlengths behind Nouwen.  Photo courtesy of Outdoors, Inc.

     Up in northern Arkansas and southern Missouri, a group of paddlers excels at marathon canoe racing, winning top honors at races across the Mid South, including the Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race on the Mississippi River at Memphis each May.  Here on the Hatchie, Clifton and Cody Rickey carried the torch for their Ozark brethren, setting a

Spectators on the U.S. 64 bridge get a final glimpse of the racers as they head off on their journey of about eight miles through the Hatchie's forested bottomland.  Photo courtesy of Outdoors, Inc.

new course record for the men's tandem open canoe class.  Actually, their time should have been even faster than it was, but forty yards from the finish, the pair hit a barely-submerged tree stump and flipped.  They had to empty the water from their boat before they could cross the finish line.  Other canoe winners were Elizabeth Gilger and Heather Zack (women's tandem) and Michelle Carpenter and Benjamin Coulston (mixed tandem).     The Hatchie River Canoe and Kayak Race will miss Chris Berryman, who has left his job as executive director of the Hardeman County Chamber of Commerce to take a position in the Tennessee Valley Authority.  Berryman, a Bolivar native, conceived the race in 2002 as a way to promote outdoor recreation and fitness in his hometown.  The racers are hopeful that his successor will provide the same leadership and enthusiasm that he has.

 

Overcast, 70 degrees
River level (U.S. 64 bridge): 7.4 feet/520 cfs

K-1W > 14 ft
1. Carol Lee Royer 1:12:23
2. Tonya Tittle 1:14:34
3. Maria Peltola 1:18:20

K-1W < 14 ft
1. Naomi Bourne 1:38:43
2. Leslye Koch 1:38:45
3. Anna Terry 1:44:54
4. Kathleen Griffen 1:50:19

K-1 > 14 ft
1. Elmore Holmes 56:52
2. Joe Royer 57:50
3. David Senter 1:00:03
4. Wim Nouwen 1:02:29
5. Wayne Lichliter 1:09:43
6. John Yowell 1:14:44
7. Christopher Alexander 1:22:54
8. Frank Duncan 1:47:21
9. Michael Cochror 1:47:22

K-1 < 14 ft
1. Andy Balogh 1:10:55
2. Chad Cox 1:21:53
3. Gil Griffen 1:53:14

K-2
1. Woody Tatum and William Bell 1:16:46
2. Jaime Foster and Andrew Foster 1:17:23
3. John Ross and Kendall McCarter 1:33:03

K-2 Mixed
1. Mike Good and April Good 1:38:24

OC-2W
1. Elizabeth Gilger and Heather Zack 1:33:54
2. Emily Carmichael and Bethany Adams 2:04:11

OC-2
1. Clifton Rickey and Cody Rickey 1:08:29
2. Don Grantham and Kevin Vales 1:22:03
3. Larry Sax and Dick Fadgen 1:24:45
4. Glenn Gallien and Billy Wilkerson 2:06:39

OC-2 Mixed
1. Michelle Carpenter and Benjamin Coulston 1:25:11
2. Richard Berryman and Sandra Berryman 1:26:24
3. Hideki Tani and Keiko Yamamoto 1:27:10
4. Joel Dixon and Bill Capper 1:31:23
5. Bruce Moore and Schwana Stein 1:39:04
6. Sherri Watson and Drew Massey 1:43:56
7. Alex Albonetti and Peggy Albonetti 1:56:42