Yes, that’s correct. Tomorrow marks the Second Annual Sixteen Mile Creek Kayak Spring Runoff Race or the SASMCKSR Race for short. Last year there was only one participant, me. Naturally I won the race. I’m a bit of an optimist so I’m thinking of doubling the entries this year and of course, defend my title.
The race: Kayak down the Sixteen Mile Creek from Dundas Street to the mouth of the creek at Lake Ontario.
Reason: For the hell of it and because we can! (It’s also fun to yell and holler throughout the ritzy Glen Abbey Golf Course)
Date: Tomorrow at 2pm (meet at the dead end of 4th Line south off of Dundas Street)
Required Items: Anything that floats, but a kayak works best. (preferably with cup holders)
Cost: Nothing, but you also get nothing. No crappy t-shirt, no cheesy medal, just a hell of a ride down the creek.
I kayaked this river last year and had a blast. I was also soaking wet and couldn’t stop laughing. Just thought I’d throw it out there in case there’s any other crazy people that might want to try this.
The completely amateur kayaker, Pete.
The Second Annual Sixteen Mile Creek Spring Runoff Race was a resounding success.
Registration numbers were way up over last year. 100% to be exact. Thanks to Brett Titus for showing up at the last second with his inner tube. The”race” was on.
River levels were way up and the rapids were there to match. The fact that there was a hole in Brett’s inner tube did not even dampen our spirits. (well not initially anyway).
Our first surprise was the fact that we actually had people cheering us on. Ron Marek, fresh back from the north, took time out of his busy schedule to wish us well along the way, that, and he also happened to be running his regular route around the river.
Things appeared to be going well, even with the odd blank stares from most of the curious onlookers from the banks of the Sixteen. Care was taken not to get under the numerous trees that had fallen into the river from the spring runoff.
Glen Abbey golf course was also fun since you had to make sure that you didn’t get beaned in the head with a golf ball. We managed to get to the QEW bridge when a familiar voice, Rob Kent with his daughter Jillian was there to also cheer us on.
Things were going along well until I got hung up under tree branches and flipped the kayak. I hung on the best I could having little control of anything at this point. I was soon passed by Brett who looked quite concerned, but later found out that he was really only concerned about the kayak and when he could take it from me to replace his own sinking vessel! We managed to get it righted and continued down the river through some very large rapids.
By the time we got to the Speers Road bridge the entire Kent family was there waiting for us. After this point the river levelled out and Brett’s inner tube with one paddle made it difficult to navigate further. In addition his inner tube had little to no air in it making floating difficult to say the least. In a short while we returned to the Oakville harbour in one piece and alive. We left at about 2:30 and arrived downstream at about 5pm.
This years results were as follows:
Overall numbers: 2
Number of finishers: 2
Kayak Class: Peter Von Euw – first 1/1
Inner tube Class: Brett Titus – first 1/1
Special thanks to Ron Marek and the Kent family for cheering (your cheque is in the mail) and also to Rob for driving us back to the car. (they will all get complimentary entries into the next race).
Note: If river levels are up again throughout the year the race director is hoping to have yet another race. Hopefully, he will be able to give a bit more notice.
