Narrow River Race 2022 Summary

The New England paddling season kicked off with the Narrow River Race in Kingstown, Rhode Island. Host Tim Dwyer welcomed 20 paddlers to this 8 mile race in a winding estuary that branches off Narragansett Bay. Racers would head 3 miles upriver from the start, then return 4 miles downriver back past the start, making a second turn to return the mile to the start/finish. Although there had been a brief period of rain earlier in the morning, at race-time the sun was making an occasional appearance. The temperature hovered around 50, with southerly winds in the 7 to 10 mph range.

At the Essex River (Replacement) Race last fall, Rob Jehn and Mike Florio had squared off in a long-awaited match, with Rob taking the prize despite a navigational error. Paddling on his home turf, Mike was anxious to even the score and win for the 3rd consecutive time at the Narrow River. Other paddlers likely to be in the mix were Greg Lesher, Chris Chappell, John Costello, and first-time racer Anthony Colasurdo. On the women’s side, Loukia Lili was returning to defend her 2021 crown, with Leslie Chappell and Mary Beth Gangloff looking to restore their names to the top.

Mike, Rob, and Chris moved quickly to the front, setting a rapid starting pace. Anthony, John, Tim, Wesley Echols, Greg, and Sam Duffield followed closely in pursuit. Over the next couple of minutes, the field begun to break up, with Mike pulling smoothly away from everyone and the pursuers stringing out independently behind him, with essentially no drafting among the top tier. A couple of minutes later, Greg managed to latch onto Anthony’s stern. Mike continued to separate from the pack. Rob lead the chase, a half-dozen lengths ahead of Anthony and Greg. Chris and John were next in pursuit, but were gradually falling off the pace of the lead pursuit pack.

By the time the river widened to a small lake at mile 2, it was clear that it was Mike’s day. Any remaining battles would take place well behind him. Entering the lake, Rob held a 15 second lead over his pursuers. Greg passed Anthony, who briefly held onto the draft before falling several lengths back. Turning back downriver at mile 3, the paddlers were now facing a cool headwind. Mike was well ahead of the 3-person chase group, which in turn held a sizeable gap over their pursuers.

Halfway back down the lake, Anthony passed by Greg, who seized on his draft. Over the next mile, Anthony gradually decreased the gap to Rob, eventually latching on his stern draft, with Greg still behind. This train continued downriver back past the start, at which point Rob managed to pull away by a couple of lengths. Greg pulled around Anthony and managed briefly to gain Rob’s draft, only to lose it again shortly after. At the downriver turn, Rob held a 3 boat length advantage. He gave a little of this up at the turn, but in the subsequent upriver stretch back to the finish he managed to open his lead to 5 lengths. Mike had finished first at 1:03:40, more than 4.5 minutes ahead of Rob. Hard-working Anthony pulled in roughly a minute after Greg.

In the women’s race, Leslie held the lead for the upriver leg. After a cautious slow start in her ICF boat, Loukia passed Mary Beth early on in pursuit of the lead. She would eventually catch and pass Leslie, leading to an exciting sprint in the final leg, with Loukia coming in first at 1:22:50 – 5 seconds ahead of Leslie. Mary Beth claimed the final podium spot some minutes later.

Here are the full results:

You can find more detailed race results at SurfskiAmerica.