Monday, September 22nd was a special day. It was, the first day of fall, the day the sun shines directly on the equator. It is a signal that the season is changing. In West Virginia, it is certainly the same. Weather turns cooler and drier, we have the early morning fog, early changing leaves, nice cool nights and mornings. It is a wonderful time of year isn’t it?

Sound like Gauley Season to you? Monday here in WV was a classic “Bluebird” beautiful Fall day. We had the early fog so typical of this time of year, plus the nice fog on the water of the Gauley too. The temps were cool Monday morning! When we showed up at the base of the dam to get set up for THE RACE, there was one person there waiting to register. Her first words were “Can I help you guys set up?” I thought…Wow-How nice! As it turned out her name was Susan Hollingsworth, and not only

was she nice, she was also FAST- and was the Fastest Overall Woman with the fastest time! The Fastest Overall Man was Mark Hamilton. Not a newbie to racing on the Gauley; Mark is also a former Olympian. Many familiar faces raced that day, plus some new ones that I am sure we will see again.

The Raft Team Category was big this year, with several teams and some great competition. But the first boat across the finish line was a team from ACE, named “Do we still get the T-shirt?”. Well, they got the shirt plus gave us all a great show at Postage Due… Great Job you guys-

The Men’s slalom was a big class with a lot of competition this year. The Playboat class was not as big as last year…But a great group and a new face won it! Peter Tiernan was the fastest… but look at those times. Not much spread there, it was a close race. It seemed like everyone had a great time…and there was a lot of talk about “next year…”

About Next year, let’s challenge more playboaters to come on out. They CAN use creek boats you know. Let’s also have more women boaters come out. Let’s have more local Outfitters participate at least by supporting some teams. And let’s have another great race on the Gauley! Check out the complete results and also some “Pillow Rock” photos at www.iplayoutside.com.

Take Care and Happy Paddling-