The opening paddling event of the tenth anniversary of the Teva Mtn. Games didn’t disappoint, as a high-flowing Homestake Creek served up bumps, bruises and, for the first time ever, a down to the hundredths of a second tie for first place, with both Honza Lasko of the Czech Republic and Mike Dawson finishing at the exact same time of 3:34:62…
Dawson, who pales for BlissStick, took the lead by three seconds over Lasko, paddling a European Zet kayak, after a near flawless first run, but then Lasko retured the favor with a near-flawless descent on his second run. And in the end, time keepers could only stare in wonder. And so could Dawson and Lasko, who happily split the $3,000 purse and shared the top spot on the podium.
PL caught up with them after the race to get their take on the historic placing:
Dawson I couldn’t believe it…at the end I thought it was a joke. How could we tie on a three and a half minute course? In 100 meter sprint events at the Olympics, the times are a half second apart. And here we are, tying on a three and a half minute Class V course. It’s crazy.
Lasko It was definitely weird and it could have gone either way.
Dawson I was sitting up top at the start with a three second lead, and he made that exactly up. I had a real fast first run and a slow second run, and he had a slow first run and a fast second run. I had pretty much the best ever run I could imagine on my first run, with no chance of replicating it. Then, on my second run, I planted deep in the bottom drop and lost a bit of time.
Lasko A hundredth of a second isn’t much. I watched him on the lower part of his second run and saw him go deep. I bumped some rocks but just somehow made it up. I was real smooth on my second run, but certainly didn’t expect a tie. So many things could have changed it either way.
Dawson We’ve raced a lot against each other. Honza is always super smooth, but always ends up fourth or fifth. So it was great to share the podium with him.
Following Lakso and Dawson was Jakub Nemec two seconds back in third, Italy’s Michele Ramazza taking fourth and New Zealand’s Sam Sutton, fresh from winning the creek event of the Paddling Life Invitational, in fifth.
In other news, Dane Jackson bested his dad, EJ, by just 0.18 seconds to take home the Game’s 10th-place 10 buck prize it’s giving to all 10th-place finsihers to celebrate its 10th anniversary.
For the women, it was Adriene Levknecht taking first over Nikki Kelly of New Zealand.
Women’s Results
1 211 LEVKNECHT Adriene Lowell, MI 1:53.89 (1) 2:01.78 (1) 3:55.67 (1)
2 202 KELLY Nikki Rotorua, NZ 2:01.75 (3) 2:10.85 (4) 4:12.60 (2)
3 197 WEGMAN Martina Almere, NH 2:00.07 (2) 2:12.62 (5) 4:12.69 (3)
4 192 HUEBNER Anne 2:04.93 (4) 2:09.47 (3) 4:14.40 (4)
5 214 URWIN Louise Rotorua, NZ 2:08.51 (5) 2:06.35 (2) 4:14.86 (5)
6 193 FAUX Tanya Alexandra, VI 2:09.78 (6)
7 228 GEORGE Toni Mairangi Bay, 2:25.11 (7)
203 PETRAKOVA Mila Colorado Spri DNS
200 CAMPBELL Elaine Readsboro, VT DNS
185 TENNEY Kira Asheville, NC DNS
240 MANSFIELD Nicole Buffalo, NY DNF
Men’s Results
1 210 LASKO Honza Pardubice, CZ 1:48.13 (2) 1:46.49 (1) 3:34.62 (1)
1 195 DAWSON Michael Tauranga, BOP 1:45.41 (1) 1:49.21 (3) 3:34.62 (1)
3 225 NEMEC Jakub Birdsborn, PA 1:49.04 (3) 1:47.75 (2) 3:36.79 (3)
4 191 RAMAZZA Michele Bologna, IT 1:49.47 (5) 1:50.18 (4) 3:39.65 (4)
5 232 SUTTON Sam Rotorua, NZ 1:51.42 (6) 1:51.06 (6) 3:42.48 (5)
6 207 LEVINSON Isaac Alpharetta, G 1:49.33 (4) 1:53.88 (13) 3:43.21 (6)
7 189 BERMAN Tao White Salmon, 1:52.73 (8) 1:51.26 (7) 3:43.99 (7)
8 221 KIRK Bryan Charlottesvil 1:54.60 (10) 1:50.53 (5) 3:45.13 (8)
9 206 LUDDEN Brad Gypsum, CO 1:53.06 (9) 1:53.19 (11) 3:46.25 (9)
10 229 JACKSON Dane Walling, TN 1:52.03 (7) 1:55.62 (14) 3:47.65 (10)
11 231 JACKSON Eric Walling, TN 1:56.18 (13) 1:51.65 (8) 3:47.83 (11)
12 216 HERR Ross Eagle, CO 1:54.89 (12) 1:53.03 (10) 3:47.92 (12)
13 199 VAN KALMTHOUT CasperDen Haag, NTL 1:54.79 (11) 1:53.87 (12) 3:48.66 (13)
14 205 STURGES Rush Etna, CA 1:58.18 (14) 1:51.79 (9) 3:49.97 (14)
15 220 FORSTER Stephen Wilton, CO 2:01.18 (19) 1:57.85 (17) 3:59.03 (15)
16 215 FOX Tyler Marmora, ONTA 2:00.63 (16) 1:58.69 (18) 3:59.32 (16)
17 233 BAYLY Brendan Te Awamutu, N 2:02.60 (20) 1:57.73 (16) 4:00.33 (17)
18 238 FUSILLI David Clarion, PA 2:04.56 (22) 1:56.47 (15) 4:01.03 (18)
19 230 TROUTMAN Nicholas Rock Island, 2:00.76 (17) 2:04.06 (19) 4:04.82 (19)
20 218 BROWN Rogan Durango, CO 1:59.89 (15) 2:05.04 (20) 4:04.93 (20)
21 196 KORBULIC Chris Reno, NV 2:04.50 (21) 2:08.14 (21) 4:12.64 (21)
22 201 STOOKESBERRY BenjamiMount Shasta, 2:01.14 (18) 2:14.44 (22) 4:15.58 (22)