Photo: Bonnie Metzke

Wild Water WA Race #5

Bells Sprints

 

We had a great day out paddling amongst a great setting at Bells Rapids (Brigadoon, Western Australia) where we held our only sprint race of the season. The water level was low (0.48) but enough to cover the rocks, which made it more of a technical course.

Bells rapids is made up of a series of small rapids over a distance of 700m. Bells drop (under the bridge), Devils slide, Side Swinder, Dogs Breakfast, and Bollands Elbow.

It was very close racing amongst 27 paddlers with 1 minute interval starts. The K1’s battle continued with Dave Worthy (3m19s) beating rival Ben Pope by 0.2 seconds. Ben almost coughed up a lung at the end of his first paddle, and set up a commanding leading for the first race. Dave Worthy came back in the second run and only just beat Ben.

In the wave hopper division, Peter G once again showed some great paddling skills and speed (4m 9s) beating Adam Roujae who paddled his first Wildwater race.

In other important news, Peter Liddle was forced to paddle in an Allblack jumper after losing a bet in the wallabies versus kiwis rugby match. Poor Peter didn’t seem to have the gracefull paddling  style that we all know he is capable of. But…he still beat Ballie (daughter) so he did manage a smile. ….Ballie was in a wave hopper though  🙂

There were plenty of spectators cheering everyone on and volunteers that helped to make the event go smoothly. We finished the day with a BBQ at the Liddles where Pete cooked up a storm. A big thank you for all your support.

Bonnie Metzke has taken some great photo. You can view the photos here

John Hilton photos here

Results Link_  WWR #5 Bells Sprint Race – Overall results