2007 Lord of the Fork Race

    The 2007 Lord of the Fork Race saw more racers this year than ever before, and a very fast field. If you didnât finish in less than 12 minutes, you didnât even make the top 20! We had 35 racers in all, beautiful weather and fall colors, and a huge group providing rescue support and filming video (mostly the local KY crowd).
    A big surprise this year was the arrival of the new LL race boat, although the boat doesnât matter near as much as the driver. Toby MacDermott proved once again that he is the man to beat on this river. This is 3 wins in a row, and his fastest time yet. 10:27 puts him only 10 seconds away from Tommy Hillekeâs fastest time several years ago. (The race record is still 9:53 in a Wavehopper by Chris Hipgrave in â96).
    The margin for the win this year was only 1 second. Geoff Calhoun showed up and blitzed the course, only his second weekend riding this river. Watch out for him next year, he doesnât like second place!
    Third place was Matt Walker in his retro T-Slalom and an even older spray skirt. I think the boat stays dry only because the water doesnât have time to leak in. This was his personal record as well, at 10:43, edging out Adam Herzog by 1 second. Rounding out the top 5 was Bryan Kirk.
    Robin Betz was once again the fastest woman on the course, even with a little speedbump in Maze. She holds the womenâs course record and is now the womenâs champ 4 years running. Katie Buddenburg made a strong showing as well, and was much faster than her time suggests. Her run was interrupted in the last 50 yards by a rude awakening against a rock wall. Such is life, Iâm sure weâll see her again next year with an eye for the win.
    Kirk Williams was the fastest (and only) hand paddler this year, somehow guiding the Tornado through the course with expert skill.
    The C-1 record finally fell. Iâve been chasing Andy Bridgeâs time of 11:23 for the past few years, and this year the flatwater and upriver training sessions finally paid off. My time of 10:57 was just barely in the top 10 overall though. The boat is over 25 years old, very fragile glass, and I didnât show it any mercy on the rocky lines. Like Neil Young says, itâs better to burn out than to fade away. Will Lyons was also looking fast in his Cascade. (And both of us are always fearing that Bernie is going to enter the race and show us how its really done.)
    One of our veteran racers had a spectacular wreck just above the finish line, broaching at the lip of the Box, falling in backwards, into the wall, and then swam like hell for the finish. And of course itâs all on film!
    Iâm sure thereâs more stories out there from the race, lots of new faces and some personal rivalries that are always fun to watch.
    Thanks again to all our rescue support from the BWA and the local folks. Barry Grimes and John Mello are putting together a video from all the combined footage, stay tuned for that at this yearâs NPFF in Lexington. Thanks also to Matt Delong for helping us with the start times, Whitewater Warehouse for one of the trophies, Eric Henrickson for the bibs, and Teamscum for some extra prizes. The party was great once again, with a nice fireworks display, a shoeless drunk running through the fire, kick-ass bluegrass music and some belly-dancing.  
    Results are listed below, and on the website soon. See you next year!
Jay
http://russellforkrace.blogspot.com or www.russellfork.info

1. Toby MacDermott        Remix 100%        10:27
2. Geoff Calhoun        T-Canyon                10:28
3. Matt Walker                T-Slalom                10:43
4. Adam Herzog        Remix 100%        10:44
5. Bryan Kirk            WS Excel                10:48
6. Eric Henrickson        Mirage            10:51
6. John Grace            Remix 100%        10:51  
8. Julian Campbell        Tornado                10:53
9. Jay Ditty            New Wave                10:57  C-1
10. Eric Chance                Tornado                11:09
11. Jason Hale            WS Momentum         11:10
12. Howard Tidwell        Spirit                    11:13  (swam the finish line!)
13. Caleb Paquette        Tornado                11:19
13. Andrew Austell        Corsica                  11:19
15. Paul Stamilio        Tornado                11:20
16. Jay Moffatt                Tornado                  11:25
17. Isaac Ludwig        Dancer            11:27
18. Eric Strittmater        Tornado                11:33
19. Gifford Sanders        Crossfire                  11:49
20. Luke Hopkins        Dancer            11:52
21. Brian Jennings        New Wave Quest    12:04
22. Nate Helms                Tornado bitch        12:06
23. Robin Betz                Remix 100%        12:09  W
24. Will Lyons                Cascade                12:10  C-1
25. Clay Warren        Response                12:12
26. Jason Parker        Tornado                  12:28
27. Matt Delong        Vortex            12:34
28. Brian Mattingly        Jefe Grande        13:02
28. Mark Miller                Burn                    13:02
30. Jon Crain            Jefe                    13:05
31. Brad Buddenburg    Crossfire                  13:08
32. Josh Burton                Habitat 80                13:13
33. Kirk Williams        Tornado                 13:18  Hand-paddle
34. Matt Rudolph        Jefe                    14:46
35. Katie Buddenburg    Mamba                17:33  W (w/ a brief interruption)