Mike Freeburn won the fibARK 26-mile downriver kayak race in Salida on Sunday, June 20, with a time of 2 hours, 13 minutes and 39 seconds (his first victory in 1991 was 10 minutes faster). Gary Lacy, though not the winner this year, was given title of “Legend” by Freeburn for competing in 36 straight fibARK events. It was his second win at fibARK, though his first victory came almost two decades ago in 1991. Experience paid off for both Freeburn and the second place finisher, Gary Lacy.
The two seasoned kayakers proved that youth and vigor don’t always win out when it comes to the marathon-like competition. “This year there were no flips and no swims but the wind was wild at times. Sometimes it was a head wind, sometimes a cross wind and near the end it was a tail wind — it was blowing me places I didn’t want to go,” Freeburn said.
The winning time for the 2010 event was 2 hours 13 minutes and 39 seconds, though Freeburn’s original victory was 10 minutes faster. Gary Lacy, though not the winner this year, was given title of “Legend” by Freeburn for competing in 36 straight fibARK events.
In the topsy-turvy freestyle events, the results unfolded, like the competitors, upside-down and all mixed-up. The 2010 Fibark men’s freestyle winner, Dustin Urban, made it past the preliminaries by only 5 points. Nick Troutman had been on a podium finish streak prior to Fibark, but didn’t make the finals cut this time, and was forced to watch from the banks with former world champion Eric Jackson.
Urban made the most of the situation. “Sitting in 5th, I took the first run of finals. The energy was high, and I was able to feed off it, setting the bar with the highest scoring event of the competition (thus far), 1220 points,” said Urban, “It’s not often that the first ride of finals is also the winning ride. Throwing a 1220 as my first ride made for a unique and much-less-stressful finals experience.”
Urban set the bar high, but watched as last years Fibark Freestyle Champion, Stephen Wright, get incredibly close to matching Urban’s score. Just 10 points, a mere flatspin separated the two competitors for the championship. Urban was determined not to lose, having come so far. In his last run he found “the zone” and started ticking off moves. “First I landed a huge clean loop, then Space Godzillas and McNasties in both directions” Urban adds, “my secret weapon in finals was Lunar Orbits in both directions, adding 300 points to my score.” Though his first run was enough for the win, Urban punctuated his victory by throwing a run worth a personal best 1305 points.
FIBark 26 MILE DOWNRIVER RESULTS
Master K1 Men Race Boat
1.Mike Freeburn
2.Gary Lacy
3.Kent Ford
4.Steve Holmes
Open K1 Men Race Boat
1.Evan Ross
2.Michael Harvey
3.Josh Oberleas
4.Mason Lacy
5.Ben Lockart
Open K1 Women Race Boat
1.Tiffine Simpson 2:42:30
Raft Race
1.Mark Mattson
2.Ben Sleeman
3.Blaine Johnson
4.Sue Demars
Open Stand-up Paddle Boat
1.Matt Paula
Open Women Stand-up Paddle Boat
1.Nicole Duke
2010 FIBARK SLALOM RACE RESULTS
Men’s Canoe
1. Tyler Hinton ,1:56.0
2. Steve Conklin, 2:06.0
3. Mark Poindexter, 2:09.5
Women’s Canoe
1. Jennifer Fritz, 3:04.1
2. Chelsea Bornemann, 3:20.3
3. Laura Egerdal, 3:46.0
Men’s 2-man Canoe
1. Poindexter/Kvanli, 2:16.1
2. Staszko/Williams, 2:28.0
3. Kieft/Griffith, 2:38.1
Open men’s kayak
1. Scott Shipley, 1:46.5
2. Jure Poberaj, 1;48.3
3. Eric Giddens, 1:52.2
Open women’s kayak
1. Hella Pannewig, 2:06.0
2. Rebecca Giddens, 2:08.6
3. Maria Kallman, 2:15.7
Men’s Freestyle
1. Dustin Urban
2. Stephen Wright
3. Bryan Kirk
Women’s Freestyle
1. Ruth Godon
2. Emily Jackson
3. Hailey Mills
