And It's Only March 1st!!!

I said this a number of times today; "and it's only March 1st!", because one look at the crowd at the USNWC today and you would have thought that it was the middle of June. I rolled up to the parking lot around 8am and there were hundreds of cars in the parking lot. The third stop of the four part series of the Finish Strong Duathlon sponsored by Inside Out Sports was already underway. Over two hundred competitors were there for an 8k run/ 53k bike/ 8k run with the run sections on USNWC trails and the bikes rode out through the small town of Mount Holly and into the countryside of Gaston and Mecklenberg counties.

My day progressed on to our first day of flatwater guide training. It was an absolute joy to hang out with these fourteen folks as we started getting prepared for our biggest season of flatwater trips yet.

In addition to our guided flatwater trips we will be offering flatwater boat rentals on the Catawba. Guests ages 9 and up will have a chance to discover parts of the Catawba on their own. Today we paddled up Long Creek, a bordering tributary to the Catawba, further than I've ever before been. The water levels were up far enough for our group to get to the "waterfall". Congratulations to Adam Seacrest for his first decent of this impressive drop. Adam spends an inordinate amount of time on the Green River Narrows, and those class V skills paid off on this "first D".


Once we wrapped up our day of training we all headed over to the Competition Channel to check out the Slalom Springs Series race. Over 50 competitors registered for this event. An impressive number for any time of year. I caught this shot of local paddlers Scott McCluskey and Austin Crane racing C2 in the first round.






To wrap up the day we headed to The Eddy Restaurant and Bar overlooking the Comp Channel to grab a beer.
I just couldn't believe that there was a two deep line at the bar. ......AND IT'S ONLY MARCH 1st!!!