Big Bear, Ca, July 11, 2011, 1:00pm –
The 4th annual Big Bear Paddlefest was this past weekend, and the weather was perfect. Swim Beach, the new larger venue for the event that has grown over the years, was filled with kayaks, canoes, and stand up paddle boards. Kids of all ages were in the water learning better paddling technique, or just trying something new. The races took place on Sunday, with the 20k around the lake course taking off at 7:00am with 21 boats competing. Ted Devito put down an impressive time of 2 hours and 7 minutes, with Matt Smith behind him with a time of 2 hours 10 minutes, followed closely by Ramon Escobar with 2 hours 14 minutes. Heather Devito wasn’t far behind her husband Ted, as she led the women with a time of 2 hours and 21 minutes. Cathleen Calkins followed with 2 hours 26 minutes, and Rachel Ghrist got third in the Women’s 20k with a time of 2 hours 45 minutes. In the 10k course 14 year old Cameron Williams won the men’s kayak division, with Judy Shannon winning in the women’s 10k kayak. The Devito’s now have the top spots in the Conquer the Bear divisions, and Jimmy Johnson, and Janet Maxwell remain the top competitors in the Conquer the Cub division. For complete event results go to www.BigBearPaddlefest.com The final Conquer the Bear event will take place on Saturday, September 10th, with Endure the Bear trail run, where Conquer the Bear participants will compete in a 30k trail run, and Conquer the Cub will compete in a 5 k trail run. There will also be 15k and 50k options. For more information go to www.OpenAirBigBear.com.
