| Mid-American Canoe Race - 2010 |
June 6, 2010 - The 49th Mid-American Canoe & Kayak Race is over, and much thanks is owed to the twenty radio volunteers who supported race officials and paddlers on Sunday, June 6, 2010. Mother Nature cooperated and gave us a beautiful breezy morning to start the paddlers off with a nice tail wind. As occurred last year, there were two starts. The first start at Mt. St. Mary Park in St. Charles was a little bit changed from last year. New plantings along the river blocked much of the area. Jeff Long, one of the Fox Valley Park District race coordinators, commented to me that he was surprised when he got there and saw how little area there was for staging the boats. Luckily, the paved path down to the water’s edge was mowed about one foot on each side. This allowed boats to be staged along its length. I, Tobi K9TCD, coordinated the communications with the timers at the river edge. I used our mobile rig’s cross band repeat feature for the first time and it worked great. I hit the repeater easily. The first heat started right on time. Ten boats left at the sound of the horn amid encouragement from bystanders. The rest of the heats went off pretty smoothly. However, after heat 22 two boats remained, but their paddlers were nowhere near. They were on a shuttle and didn’t arrive for over half an hour. We sent them off, pointing the way south, downriver and the first start was finished for the day. |
The first portage at the Geneva dam was covered by Michelle KC9HDB, John K9VYH and Bill WB9LPW. They had the task of marking off boat numbers as they came out to walk around the dam. Keeping track of boat numbers is not the easiest thing to do, but these volunteers did a great job of it. Sometimes boats have previous years’ numbers on them. Luckily, this year we only noticed a few boats with this problem. Also, boat numbers were scratched out and hand-written to match the heat sheets, sometimes illegibly. This made for some interesting descriptions, such as “boat number 100 looks like 640”. Sometimes it was a little easier to describe the boats, because the paddlers were dressed up. We had pirates, Vikings, Blues Brothers and even a couple super heroes in tights and masks. Must have been a bit warm under there! |
The second portage was at the Batavia dam. Dawn KC9LQS, Jeff N9JZN and Warren K9IH deftly handled getting boats to where they needed to be, keeping note of the numbers as they came through. This was the first year Dawn and Jeff helped out at this event and they caught on quickly. Warren was an old hat, but hadn’t participated in a few years. It was nice to have him back. |
The second start, behind the VFW in Batavia, is a tricky area for radio communications. In the past, I was at this location and found that with my HT I had to stand up to be able to hit the repeater. I couldn’t stay seated in my nice comfy chair. So, this year, I asked Eric AB9OS to use his cross band repeater capabilities to make sure we were getting out. It worked great and Eric even took an extra step…into the water! There is a picture of him taken by Greg N9CHA, roving photographer, knee deep in the water making sure he could see all the boat numbers! Julika KC9RVQ was a big help and got some radio practice calling in heats and missing boat numbers. She did let her dad, Neil KB9RFX get on the radio too. Thanks Neil for getting Julika, one of our new hams to the event. |
The final portage, in North Aurora, is always the busiest spot of the race with boats coming in many at a time. The Lions are cheering everyone on over loudspeakers. It is quite a challenge for the FRRL members to be heard. For a few years Bart KC9FQA and Catherine KC9KJU have efficiently gotten down to business here marking off boats amid the chaos. They had help this year from the Smith family: Pat N9TBD, Tony KC9RVR and Michelle (no call yet, but she’ll get it, I have faith!) Pat helped call in information as needed and Tony and Michelle tracked the numbers. Tony got on the radio, too, providing more good work by one of our newest hams. I think having five people at this location helped this year. |
At the finish at the Prisco Center in Aurora we had our Net Control, Kent W9NDW and two spotters, Tom WB9CHY and Keith N9YA. They kept Kent informed as to what was happening at the finish line. After the starts and portages were closed down, FRRL volunteers came down to the Prisco Center to partake in the food and festivities. There was quite a crowd with all the paddlers and their families who received free massages and food tastes, plus lunch and t-shirts and many give-aways. |
One other FRRL member helped out even though she was not along the racecourse. Cyd N9CV was at her weather desk. Storms occurred Saturday night and were predicted for later in the day on Sunday. Although we didn’t get rained on, we were relieved knowing Cyd was watching out for us. |
Many thanks to all of you mentioned above for your invaluable help with this race. I couldn’t have done it without you and I appreciate your dedication to this community service event and to the FRRL. |
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Ham Radio Volunteers for the 2010 Canoe Race |
Tobi K9TCD
Coordinator, 1st Start |
Kent W9NDW
Net Control |
Cyd N9CV
WX Desk |
Bill WB9LPW
Geneva Portage |
John K9VYH
Geneva Portage |
Michelle KC9HDB
Geneva Portage |
Dawn KC9LQS
Batavia Portage |
Jeff N9JZN
Batavia Portage |
Warren K9IH
Batavia Portage |
Julika KC9RVQ
2nd Start Batavia |
Neil KB9RFX
2nd Start Batavia |
Eric AB9OS
2nd Start Batavia |
Catherine KC9KJU
North Aurora Portage |
Bart KC9FQA
North Aurora Portage |
Tony KC9RVR
North Aurora Portage |
Pat N9TBD
North Aurora Portage |
Michelle
North Aurora Portage |
Tom WB9CHY
Finish Area Aurora |
Keith N9YA
Finish Area Aurora |
Greg N9CHA
Photographer |
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| June 6, 2010 - Tobi K9TCD coordinated the ham radio support for the event this year. She worked with the event organizers from the Fox Valley Park District and solicited help from fellow FRRL club members. Tobi positioned herself at the "1st Start" which was at St. Mary's Park in St. Charles, just south of the Prairie Street Bridge. |
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| June 6, 2010 - Keeping track of the canoes as they come off the water in Geneva was John K9VYH. He used a check sheet to add and subtract participants if they did not start in St. Charles, or if they got mixed in with a different start. Toby would communicate the changes to Kent W9NDW Net Control, and John, Michelle, and Bill would update their check lists. |
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| June 6, 2010 - Bill WB9LPW, Michelle KC9HDB and John N9VYH provided ham radio communications at the Geneva portage. Hand held coverage of the river was provided by the NIARC repeater which is located in Batavia. |
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| June 6, 2010 - Warren K9IH checks in with Kent W9NDW Net Control. Warren had a very nice vantage point from a public deck along the West side of the Fox River, just north of downtown Batavia. |
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| June 6, 2010 - The Batavia portage was covered by (l to r) Warren K9IH, Dawn KC9LQS and Jeff N9JZN. There is an old dam site north of downtown Batavia where a factory once stood, it is now used by the DNR for flood control. This dam is not possible to navigate, so boaters must pull their canoes out north of the dam and portage themselves around the obstacle. |
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| June 6, 2010 - Providing support at the "2nd Start" were (l to r) Neil KB9RFX, his daughter Julika KC9RVQ and Eric AB9OS. Spotting the canoe numbers was a real challenge for the group. At times the boats were marked with hand-printed or hand-modified tags. However, this team was up to the challenge and recorded all who left from the 2nd Start, south of Batavia near the VFW hall. |
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| June 6, 2010 - Julika KC9RVQ communicates the next heat of boaters as her father Neil KB9RFX spots the number tags on the boats heading down the river from the 2nd Start position south of Batavia. There were 10 start lanes along the sandy beach adjacent to the VFW post. |
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| June 6, 2010 - Eric AB9OS had to walk out into the river several times to check on a boat number. At times the stickers were on the forward part of the boat, and sometimes on the aft section. Keeping an accurate accounting of who was on the river at what time made it possible for check points down stream to keep a watchful look-out and maintain event safety. |
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| June 6, 2010 - The North Aurora portage is one of the busiest along the Fox River during the Mid-American Canoe Race. It took 5 club members to try and keep track of these boaters as they portaged the dam. |
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| June 6, 2010 - The crew at the North Aurora portage consisted of (l to r) Michelle, Bart KC9FQA, Catherine KC9KJU, Tony KC9RVR and Pat N9TBD. There was a sandy incline for the boaters to navigate once they pulled their canoes from the river. Tony and his sister Michelle checked off the boat numbers as their father Pat barked them out. Bart and Catherine also helped maintain the list as the sometimes chaotic check point became over-run with canoes, paddles and people. |
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| June 6, 2010 - The race ended up near the Fox Valley Park Districts' "Prisco Center" in Aurora. A t-shirt and meal ticket were available for all the club members who helped out. Tom WB9CHY, Tobi K9TCD, Michelle KC9HDB, Dawn KC9LQS and Jeff N9JZN discuss the days activities. |
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| Mid-American Canoe Race - 2009 |
| On June 7, 2009, the FRRL provided radio communications for the 48th annual Mid-American Canoe & Kayak Race. Volunteers were located along the race course, which stretched from Mt. St. Mary Park in St. Charles to the Prisco Center in Aurora. Our role was basically to provide security by making sure that all boats arrived at the finish, using our radios to call in boat numbers for confirmation with the race organizers’ records. |
| After a threat of a rain delay, the first heat went off on time. Although boaters were rained on, they still had smiles on their faces. It took a bit more logistics this year than in past years, because there were two starts. |
| Thank you to all the volunteers who helped out this year: Michelle KC9HDB, Tom WB9CHY, Neil KB9RFX, Chris KC9BKS, Bill WB9LPW, John KC0VYH, Eric AB9OS, Aaron KB9KYV, Kathleen KB9TKV, Catherine KC9KJU, Bart KC9FQA, Frank AA9FR, Kent W9NDW, Keith N9YA and Mike W9MJS. In addition, thank you Cyd N9CV for providing much needed weather information. As it was a stormy day, her ears on the weather nets were invaluable. |
| Tobi K9TCD |
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| Here are some pictures from the 2009 Race: |
| (Photos: N9YA, KC9HDB, KB9RFX, K9TCD, WB9CHY) |