2008 Reno River Festival

2008 Reno River Festival- BY: L6 team member KB

The 2008 Reno River Festival drew huge crowds again in ’08. The Reno River Festival is the kick off event for the spring competition season out West. Besides participating in front of a huge excited crowd, the best thing about competing in Reno is the weather. It seems like the sun is always shinning. That is something that has been lacking this year in Montana. Also, with sunshine all the beautiful women seem to come out!

So the event goes down like this! Day 1: Open class freestyle- (Jr., women and men). The goal is to place in the Top 3 of your division in order to compete against the “invited athletes”. Who are the invited athletes? They are the top 12 athletes from last years comp. Day 2: The Freestyle Invitational- (Jr., women and men). The goal is to win and get the cash and Bling! Day 3: Boater cross- (Jr., women and men). The goal, do what it takes to cross the finish 1st / bragging rights.

So I began the event this year in the open class. There was a huge turn out of competitors. The first cut after a combined score of two 1minute rides was down to six athletes. I made it into the final six with the second highest score of the round. The next cut was down to 3 athletes. This was decided by the highest scoring ride out of two rides. I made it into the final 3 with the highest scoring ride of the round. Now I was seated first in the round of the final 3. The final 3 each took a ride and the lowest score would be eliminated. At the end of this round I was seated 1st once again. Now it was for 1st and 2nd place and I would have the final ride. This is how day 1 ended up: 1st –Dave Fusilli, 2nd -KB, 3rd -Scott Sady

Day 2, The Invitational! Now it was time to throw down with the big boys. Competing here were names like Eric Jackson, Brian Kirk, Steven Wright etc… Well to make a long story short, I had a great comp this day. I didn’t win; I took 11th overall, which was good enough to make the top 12. This means that I’m invited back next year –which will be a lot less tiring, because I don’t have to compete in the open. In all it was a super fun weekend hanging with all the paddlers and Reno locals. I can’t wait for next year’s Reno fest! Now it’s time to focus on my next event, which is Best in the West in Missoula, Montana. Look for an update next week on how that went down! Thanks L6 team KB

For more Reno/KB info and pics check out: Jacksonkayak.com and worldkayak.com