WWALS: BLRPR 2017 paddlers and winners 2017-04-29

WWALS: BLRPR 2017 paddlers and winners 2017-04-29 [Up]

Dwight Griner of Berrien County, Georgia won for the fifth time; see also the press release.

A dozen other boats received prizes, as a record number of people paddled in the Fifth Annual BIG Little River Paddle Race, April 29, 2017. Tifton and Tift County had the most paddlers, but the awards show more boats from Moultrie and Colquitt County. Lowndes had the second most paddlers, and there were two people each from Cook and from far-away Houston and Harris Counties, and one from Thomas County.

This year's BLRPR included three popular new attractions:

Lunch grilled on the spot
A silent auction
A kayak raffle

Perhaps the food was the most popular, since everyone was hungry after racing (or leisurely paddling) down the beautiful blackwater Little River beneath cypress and pines in the springtime.

These pictures show the start at Red Roberts Landing in Cook County on the Little River and the finish at the Colquitt County landing on the lake in Reed Bingham State Park, Georgia. Thanks everyone for helping WWALS educate the public about our fabulous rivers and conserve them for everyone to use.

Under the cypress

This was an all-hands-on-deck event for WWALS: every board member and many others too numerous to mention helped in some way, and of course Friends of Reed Bingham (FORB) and the park rangers at Reed Bingham State Park.

I would especially like to call out the BLRPR mastermind, Bret Wagenhorst; the president of FORB, Diane Walters; and Phil Hubbard, who was involved in more ways than almost anyone else.

And of course the Sponsors, several of whom contributed items for the silent auction:

Cook Family Wellness Center & Convenient Care Clinic
Phil Hubbard
Dr. Bret Wagenhorst, eye M.D.
Wilson Eye Center
Wild Adventures Theme Park
Academy Sports
South Georgia Pecan
The Potters

Many people bought tickets for the kayak raffle. You can still get your raffle tickets online. The drawing will be at the WWALS Annual Meeting, 7PM Wednesday July 12, 2017, in Valdosta, GA. You do not have to be present to win, but you will be responsible for picking up the kayak if you win.

Table of Paddlers and Winners

2017 BIG Little Paddle Race Results
Place	Time	Name	Category	Award	City	County	State
1.	40:38	Dwight Griner	solo M kayak	overall	West Berrien	Berrien	GA
2.	45:47	Jay York	solo M kayak	1st SMK	Adel	Cook	GA
3.	48:17	Phil Hubbard	solo M kayak		Valdosta	Lowndes	GA
4.	48:32	Tom Potter	solo M kayak		Valdosta	Lowndes	GA
5.	49:53	Tim Robinson	solo M kayak		Moultrie	Colquitt	GA
6.	58:30	Ray Cummings	solo M canoe	1st SMC	Moultrie	Colquitt	GA
7.	58:55	Beatriz Potter	solo F kayak	1st SFK	Valdosta	Lowndes	GA
8.	58:56	Nikki York	solo F kayak		Adel	Cook	GA
9.	59:09	Jessica Brumfield & Kirby Smith	MF tandem kayak	1st MFTK	Moultrie	Colquitt	GA
10.	1:01:50	Dan Phillips	solo M kayak		Hahira	Lowndes	GA
11.	1:02:50	Wes Hubbard	solo M kayak		Valdosta	Lowndes	GA
12.	1:06:50	Woody Weeks & Anthony Weeks	MM tandem kayak	1st MTK	Moultrie	Colquitt	GA
?.	1:08:40	F olive kayak pink shirt	solo F kayak		?	?	?
13.	1:09:45	Marco Hur & Michael Magat	MM tandem kayak		Moultrie	Colquitt	GA
14.	1:11:37	Ray and Patty Barber	MF tandem canoe	1st MFTC	Tifton	Tift	GA
15.	1:13:38	Kelly Dekle & Paul Horst	MF tandem kayak		Tifton	Tift	GA
16.	1:14:23	Winfred Dowdy	solo M kayak		Valdosta	Lowndes	GA
17.	1:14:33	Michasia Dowdy	solo F kayak		Valdosta	Lowndes	GA
18.	1:15:21	Glen & Mary Harris	MF tandem canoe		Tifton	Tift	GA
?.	1:16:28	M olive kayak blue shirt	solo M kayak		?	?	?
?.	1:16:45	F blue kayak black shirt	solo F kayak		?	?	?
?.	1:17:07	M yellow orange kayak black shirt	solo M kayak		?	?	?
19.	1:18:42	Judy Shiflett & Lily Robinson	FF tandem kayak	1st FTK	Tifton	Tift	GA
20.	1:18:52	Megan Robinson	solo F kayak		Tifton	Tift	GA
21.	1:19:52	Carrie Vickers	solo F kayak		Tifton	Tift	GA
22.	1:19:59	Brentley Yamnitz	solo F kayak		Tifton	Tift	GA
23.	1:21:20	Karen & Tom Johnson	MF tandem canoe	farthest	Pine Mtn	Harris	GA
24.	1:21:40	John S. Quarterman	solo M kayak		Hahira	Lowndes	GA
25.	1:22:55	Alton Burns	solo M canoe		Coolidge	Thomas	GA
26.	1:23:10	Scott James & girls	MFF 3P canoe	1st 3C	Valdosta	Lowndes	GA
27.	1:23:26	Kailey James	solo F kayak		Valdosta	Lowndes	GA
28.	1:27:02	Jaree Bush	solo F kayak	youngest	Lake Park	Lowndes	GA
29.	1:27:11	Dallas Bush	solo M kayak		Lake Park	Lowndes	GA
30.	1:31:26	Sam & Sherri Wright	MF tandem canoe		Tifton	Tift	GA
31.	1:32:28	Presley & Ashley Vickers	MF tandem kayak		Tifton	Tift	GA
32.	1:32:15	Laura Kate Wright	solo F kayak		Tifton	Tift	GA
33.	1:32:45	Larry, Alex, Amber Ogden	MMF 3P canoe		Valdosta	Lowndes	GA
34.	1:32:35	Luke and Colt Key	MM tandem canoe	1st MMTC	Moultrie	Colquitt	GA
35.	1:34:17	Gonzalo Olguin	solo M kayak		Omega	Tift	GA
36.	1:56:39	Randy Wall	solo M kayak		Warner Robins	Houston	GA
37.	1:56:58	Tracey Wall	solo F kayak		Warner Robins	Houston	GA
38.	2:??:??	James & Jerry Walker	MF tandem canoe	slowest & oldest	Tifton	Tift	GA
Totals		31 M 23 F	12 SMK 10 SFK 5 MFTC 3 MFTK 2 3C 2 SMC 2 MMTK 1 MMTC 1 FFTK	4 Moultrie 3 Tifton 2 Valdosta 1 West Berrien 1 Pine Mtn 1 Adel 1 Lake Park 4 Colquitt Co. 3 Tift Co. 3 Lowndes Co. 1 Cook Co. 1 Berrien Co. 1 Harris Co.	18 Tifton 13 Valdosta 10 Moultrie 2 Hahira 2 Adel 2 Pine Mtn 2 Warner Robins 2 Lake Park 1 Omega 1 West Berrien 1 Coolidge	19 Tift 17 Lowndes 10 Colquitt 2 Harris 2 Cook 2 Houston 1 Thomas 1 Berrien	54 GA

#? marks a paddler who was not registered in the race. Register next time and you'll have a chance to win while helping even more!

Curiously there were no entrants from Berrien or Brooks or Lanier Counties, Georgia, and none from Florida. Looks like WWALS also needs to hold a paddle race on the Suwannee River in Florida. Maybe we'll do that this fall.

About WWALS

WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. (WWALS) advocates for conservation and stewardship of the Withlacoochee, Willacoochee, Alapaha, Little, and Suwannee River watersheds in south Georgia and north Florida through education, awareness, environmental monitoring, and citizen activities. John S. Quarterman is the Suwannee Riverkeeper®, which is a staff position and a project of WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) as the Member of the Waterkeeper® Alliance for the Suwannee River basin. WWALS is a 501(c)(3) educational charity.

-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!

Pictures

We do not actually have a picture of Dwight Griner crossing the finish line because he got there so fast nobody was ready with a camera.

First a few videos:

The still picture labels are:

#Place*
Paddle Time*
Name
Prize, if any
Time* of day from the photograph timestamp
Computed Paddle Time* calculated from the photograph timestamp.
As you can see it compares closely with the Paddle Time, so identification of the pictures is pretty reliable for the people who are named in the table.

* for pictures of people clocking in

Pictures are by Kat Brim and Wes Hubbard, using equipment supplied by Phil Hubbard,
except as noted:
(BW) Bret Wagenhorst
(GQ) Gretchen Quarterman
(jsq) John S. Quarterman (more in previous post)