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Funds from kayakalon will help Goose Creek program
Kayakalon sees significant increase in participants
By GREG KATSKI
Staff Writer
The Pamlico-Tar River Foundation’s 2nd Annual “Race for the River” Kayakalon took over Goose Creek State Park on a muggy Saturday morning, with 124 people from all over the Southeast participating in the event.
The 124 participants marked a significant increase over the 89 racers in last year’s kayakalon.
Race Director Diane Harris, a member of the PTRF, was impressed with the turnout.
“I’m thrilled with the amount of people we had,” Harris said. “In a race like this, you usually go up in increments. The race gets a little bigger and bigger every time.”
The kayakalon is expected to have raised over $1,000 for the PTRF and Friends of Goose Creek, who co-sponsored the event, according to Harris.
“I think we’ll end up raising a good chunk of money for PTRF and Friends of Goose Creek,” Harris said. “Last year we raised $1,000 and I think we’ll exceed that.”
The money raised from the race for the Friends of Goose Creek is expected to help fund an educational kayaking program at the park.
“I believe they’ll be able to start getting some kayaks,” Harris said.
There was a noticeable increase in team participation this year, according to Harris.
“This year we had a lot more teams than last year,” Harris said. “It was almost evenly split between teams and singles.”
Harris attributes this to the number of families and couples that competed in the event.
“There were a lot of families this time,” Harris said. “I do believe this will become more of a family race.”
Harris believes that the kayakalon is an ideal race for triathalon participants to get inexperienced family members involved.
“It’s a great race for people to start out on; it’s easy, it’s beautiful, there’s not a lot of pressure,” Harris said. “It’s a really good race to start out on, as long as you know how to paddle.
Although a family atmosphere will increase participation in the kayakalon, Harris cautions that to compete in such an event, you must be well-trained.
“If you don’t know what you’re doing, you can get in trouble in the kayak and take a real long time to finish that,” Harris said.
During the kayak portion of the race, one participant dumped their kayak and failed to finish; all other competitors finished.
Jeff Sosa, Apex, finished first overall with a time of 1:29:52. The 44 year old has been competing in triathalons for over 20 years. Sosa started racing because he missed the competition of playing soccer in college.
“After being out of college and being a competitive athlete in college I just wanted to continue to compete and have fun and triathalons are a good way to do it,” Sosa said. “I enjoy biking and trail running so it was a good fit.”
Sosa, who is a member of the Trailblazers adventure racing club, enjoys kayak races.
“I do some kayak races, down there in Beaufort and New Bern and I do some adventure races,” Sosa said.
Sosa, who was competing in the “Race for the River” Kayakalon for the first time, gave kudos to the PTRF and Friends of Goose Creek and the park.
“It’s a very good organization, it was well run and a great location, nice course,” Sosa said.
Sosa promises that he will be back for future kayakalons.
“This is the first year I did it, I just learned about it,” Sosa said. “It’s definitely going to be a race I come back to, it’s a lot of fun.”
Harris was not surprised that Sosa won the kayakalon, as a lot of men his age race in triathalons.
“There’s always the biggest turnout for men between 25 and 45,” Harris said.
Wes Wilson, a 30-year-old first time competitor from Winterville started training in January. Wilson was sure to train thoroughly for his first ever triathalon.
“I felt that I had to start training in January,” Wilson said.
Wilson encourages other people to start competing in triathalons and claims this is the first of many for him.
“I’ll definitely be back next year.”
At the awards ceremony, Harris thanked all of the participants and sponsors for their help. In addition, she thanked the ROTC Program at Northside High School.
“I really want to thank Sgt. Charlie Woolard and his ROTC program,” Harris said. “They show up and do all the heavy lifting of the kayaks. Without them I don’t know what I would have done.”
By GREG KATSKI
Staff Writer
The Pamlico-Tar River Foundation’s 2nd Annual “Race for the River” Kayakalon took over Goose Creek State Park on a muggy Saturday morning, with 124 people from all over the Southeast participating in the event.
The 124 participants marked a significant increase over the 89 racers in last year’s kayakalon.
Race Director Diane Harris, a member of the PTRF, was impressed with the turnout.
“I’m thrilled with the amount of people we had,” Harris said. “In a race like this, you usually go up in increments. The race gets a little bigger and bigger every time.”
The kayakalon is expected to have raised over $1,000 for the PTRF and Friends of Goose Creek, who co-sponsored the event, according to Harris.
“I think we’ll end up raising a good chunk of money for PTRF and Friends of Goose Creek,” Harris said. “Last year we raised $1,000 and I think we’ll exceed that.”
The money raised from the race for the Friends of Goose Creek is expected to help fund an educational kayaking program at the park.
“I believe they’ll be able to start getting some kayaks,” Harris said.
There was a noticeable increase in team participation this year, according to Harris.
“This year we had a lot more teams than last year,” Harris said. “It was almost evenly split between teams and singles.”
Harris attributes this to the number of families and couples that competed in the event.
“There were a lot of families this time,” Harris said. “I do believe this will become more of a family race.”
Harris believes that the kayakalon is an ideal race for triathalon participants to get inexperienced family members involved.
“It’s a great race for people to start out on; it’s easy, it’s beautiful, there’s not a lot of pressure,” Harris said. “It’s a really good race to start out on, as long as you know how to paddle.
Although a family atmosphere will increase participation in the kayakalon, Harris cautions that to compete in such an event, you must be well-trained.
“If you don’t know what you’re doing, you can get in trouble in the kayak and take a real long time to finish that,” Harris said.
During the kayak portion of the race, one participant dumped their kayak and failed to finish; all other competitors finished.
Jeff Sosa, Apex, finished first overall with a time of 1:29:52. The 44 year old has been competing in triathalons for over 20 years. Sosa started racing because he missed the competition of playing soccer in college.
“After being out of college and being a competitive athlete in college I just wanted to continue to compete and have fun and triathalons are a good way to do it,” Sosa said. “I enjoy biking and trail running so it was a good fit.”
Sosa, who is a member of the Trailblazers adventure racing club, enjoys kayak races.
“I do some kayak races, down there in Beaufort and New Bern and I do some adventure races,” Sosa said.
Sosa, who was competing in the “Race for the River” Kayakalon for the first time, gave kudos to the PTRF and Friends of Goose Creek and the park.
“It’s a very good organization, it was well run and a great location, nice course,” Sosa said.
Sosa promises that he will be back for future kayakalons.
“This is the first year I did it, I just learned about it,” Sosa said. “It’s definitely going to be a race I come back to, it’s a lot of fun.”
Harris was not surprised that Sosa won the kayakalon, as a lot of men his age race in triathalons.
“There’s always the biggest turnout for men between 25 and 45,” Harris said.
Wes Wilson, a 30-year-old first time competitor from Winterville started training in January. Wilson was sure to train thoroughly for his first ever triathalon.
“I felt that I had to start training in January,” Wilson said.
Wilson encourages other people to start competing in triathalons and claims this is the first of many for him.
“I’ll definitely be back next year.”
At the awards ceremony, Harris thanked all of the participants and sponsors for their help. In addition, she thanked the ROTC Program at Northside High School.
“I really want to thank Sgt. Charlie Woolard and his ROTC program,” Harris said. “They show up and do all the heavy lifting of the kayaks. Without them I don’t know what I would have done.”
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