Hood River, Oregon’s own Dan Gavere took home the victory last weekend in the Surftech Rally on the River SUP Race in Reno, Nevada, the first-ever down river SUP race. The event is the SUP portion of the 7th Annual Reno River Festival, a kayak event featuring the world’s most extreme whitewater competition, which attracts world-class competitors from across the globe for three days of excitement on the water.
The Surftech Rally was the final event of the weekend. The three-and-a-half-mile race course consisted of a series of fin-grinding rapids, rushing currents and tight turns through the first three quarters of the race. The final leg of the race was in Reno’s notorious whitewater park, which featured three steep rapids with big drops and turbulent whitewater. Exhausted after the demanding run, the racers had no choice but to stay on their boards–if they fell off in the rapids, they’d have no hope of contending for the Rally on the River title.
Gavere’s choice of a flatwater race board became questionable at this point. Though the board was fast, it was really unstable. But his decades of whitewater skills and athleticism came through and he raced across the finish line with a time of 20:24:00–first place.
[Via: Surftech]
[Photo Via: mikebaird]
