The Green Race is by far the most intense race I’ve ever done and is probably one of the most demanding races on the planet. After showing up the day before the race last year I told myself that I’d come down early this year and train so I’d know where I was going. Well that didn’t happen and I ended up showing up the day before the race for the second year in a row!

Trying to entertain the crowd at Gorilla (Photo Brian Jennings)

I’ve only run the Green a few times and there’s a lot to remember so I decided I’d try to get there early in the morning and get a few runs in so I’d have a better idea of where I was going during the race. My first run down I followed Bryan Kirk and didn’t get out and scout anything. My first reaction was gaaaaaaaaa!!! But the smile didn’t come off of my face the entire run! There aren’t too many rivers around that have the amount of quality drops back to back that the Green has, it’s pretty hard to beat. There are also very few creeks that have predictable flows and consistent dam releases to organize a race on during a drought.

Rocking out at Frankenstein, the first drop of the race (Photo Bryan Kirk)

The race itself is amazing. This year saw close to 125 racers, I can’t believe that so many people race this river! Getting towards the end of the race you start to get really tired and you’re still faced with one of the hardest rapids, Gorilla. Coming into this rapid lactic is scary to say the least! The drop lands on a shallow slide where landing upside down pretty much guarantees that you’re going to get seriously hurt.

Going for some air time at Gorilla (Photo Bryan Kirk)

Prepping for my race run there were a few things I wanted to do. My plan was to start off paddling at a medium/fast pace until I made it through Go Left and Die, messing this up equals a long and painful surf that can easily make or break your race. I couldn’t of asked for a better run through this section. After Go Left I was going to pick up the pace until I made it through Gorilla. I’d been styling Gorilla in my practice runs and wasn’t really worried about it…although it turned out that I should have been because I eddied out below the notch then again at the speed trap! After that I didn’t hold anything back and paddled as hard as I could to the finish, stomping all my lines.

Entering Go Left and Die (Photo Bryan Kirk)

For full results check out: http://www.boatingbeta.com/race.cgi?raceid=1&date=2007-11-03

Kelsey Thompson