Oregon Cup 2007-Boatercross Event

By: Christina Russell
Date of events: May 4,5,6, 2007


Great view eh?
Photo by: Christina Russell

Last weekend, Kim and I headed up to the Clackamus and Canyon Creek for the Oregon Cup. Due to what I will dub "family issues" I was unable to make it to the Canyon Creek extreme race. :( However, miss Kim Russell DID.
I drove up on Saturday afternoon from Bend. With my Vision 44 and Huck strapped on, I was ready to rock. Driving alone was an interesting experience. Most road trips include sing alongs with fellow paddlers. Unfortunately this was not the case. though make no mistake, my drive was entertaining for me :).

On the way out of Bend I stopped by Fred Meyers for some goodies. Def: Goodies- 10 glazed and sprinkle donuts, string cheese, rice crackers, smoothie, Thai instant noodles, orzo with feta cheese, and oh...an inflatable donut for me to sit on ( I broke my tailbone last week but that's another story). I also had a crap ton of new music to rock out to ...which later led to many many sing-a-longs. You should be happy you weren't riding with me! ;)

After about three hours of drivin', I got to the Clackamus River around 1:30. There, I met up with fellow VOZ team member, Matt Solomon, and his good pal, Josh Bechtal. The Rodeo was unfortunately cancelled due to funky river levels so the three of us headed back to Estacada for some burgers (veggie burgers!) and pool. Later, Kim, Todd Baker, and Corey Volt met up with us at the campsite....





That night, there was a blue grass band that showed up....but this band was special. It was a blue grass-ROCK band! MWHAHHAHA! With lots of Rockstar flowin, (Rockstar was the official sponsor of the Oregon Cup) all of us were up late listening to the music and doing are best rendition of the line dance (ugh it was a horrible rendition but hilarious!)


Sunday- Boatercross



The morning of the boatercross, the sad realization that Team VOZ was providing the only competitors sank in. There were no additional paddlers that showed up. As 11:00 rolled around the competitors were as follows:

Mens(official)- Robby
Josh Bechtal

Womens(Official)-Christina Russell

Todd Baker, Kim Russell, Corey Volt, and Matt Solomon also raced us (though it was unofficial). The boatercross course was not established when we put on the water. The event was extremely unorganized so we developed our own course. There were two gates to make. First one to the bottom of the rapid and the first to hit the metal ladder, WINS. At the top of the rapid, just below the first gate, Corey Volt, Todd Baker, and Robby got stuck in a perty nice hole. Matt Solomon, Bechtal, and I pulled away and placed respectively with Kim Russell pullin' in with fourth. It was great to know that despite few competitors, we were able to keep it fun. :D



Official Race Results:

1. Josh Bechtal
2. Christina Russell
3. Robert



Though Jasmine, Matt's dog (above), was unable to compete in the boatercross event, we cheered her up with lots of dog food ...correction- scrambled eggs.

After the boatercross I stuck around to paddle with fellow competitor Robby. We headed back up to the put in with our playboats and hit up the surfwaves that were in. Bob's hole was still at an awkward level so we didn't play there for long. thanks to Robby's parents (and three giant Great Danes )I was able to catch a ride back up to my car.


The view on the ride home...welcome to central Oregon!

Thanks to everyone who showed up, we had a great time and next year will be even better!

Happy Paddling everyone because summer's here! :D
-Christina Russell