Paddling the General Clinton Regatta on the Susquehanna River
By Kim Greiner
So I have a few bruises, blisters, abrasions, and a little sunburn, but it was worth it!
The Bainbridge Chamber of Commerce has hosted the General Clinton Regatta every Memorial Day weekend for the past 62 years with many kinds of races from the Generation Gap to Scout races and sprints, as well as the highlight of the weekend, a 70-mile endurance race. Northern New York Paddlers has had a mixed relay team for many years, as well as both men’s and women’s teams back when they existed. We often have many of the same members of the 10-person relay team, but NNYP’s team had two new people this year and they finished 6th out of 19. An excellent result! The course is run in five legs (starting in Oneonta and ending in Bainbridge). A person can run more than one leg, but it cannot be consecutive. There must always be a male and a female in the stock aluminum canoe. Each leg of the race varies in length (2.5 – 9 miles), type of water, and obstacles. Exchanges are a bit crazy as quite a few boats arrive at the same time with people jumping out and the new team jumping in. A great spectator opportunity also!
It has been 16 years since I participated in the “70”. I had a great opportunity to paddle in a C-4 (four-person canoe) with three amazing women. The weather started out great (cool and overcast) in the morning, but the last 30 miles was sunny and quite hot. The course starts on picturesque Otsego Lake in Cooperstown and runs to General Clinton Park in Bainbridge. The first 40 miles has a lot of very technical water that becomes very challenging and can be quite dangerous in places. Three dams (Cooperstown, Goodyear Lake, and Oneonta) must be portaged around, another physical challenge as paths are narrow, wooded, muddy, uphill and down, but thankfully short. We are extremely grateful to our pit crew who resupplied our drinks and food at various intervals. Even being a pit person can be grueling as concern for getting to the location on time, hiking or paddling in with all the right stuff, plus extras, presents quite a challenge. Most paddlesport races are divided into gender and age groups. The C-4 Stock Endurance Class is not, so our team of women (ranging in ages from 40-80) were in the same ranking as the other teams (mixed and men’s). Despite that, we were very proud to finish 5th out of 6 with a time of 10:47:18. Yup, nearly 11 hours of paddling! Any wonder why the bruises, blisters, abrasions and sunburn?
