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The Green Race Information Page

Sorry, Boatingbeta database is gone for good!! :(
(October 2018 -- and this page is well out of date)

The 23rd annual Green Race will be held on
Saturday, Nov. 3rd, 2018

Perhaps the single most famous, most respected, and most competitive creek race on the planet, the annual Green Race remains a fabulous and homespun little affair held each Fall on the steepest section of western North Carolina's Green River Narrows. Local boaters train here for much of the year due to the reliable flows, and people come from literally around the world to compete. More than five hundred friends and family members either hike or paddle in to watch and cheer on every racer, scattering themselves along the river's boulders and bedrock near the photogenic signature rapid called Gorilla -- a.k.a. "The Monkey" -- heart and soul of the entire run.

Looming larger than life in any paddler's mind, the Green Race is -- save for a few individuals -- largely not about winning. It's more about having clean lines and a safe run, making a personal best time, beating (or losing to) a friend by a few seconds, and simply participating in such a unique event and the fine community that surrounds it all. And yet to date, in nineteen years, with perhaps several thousand people having navigated and portaged themselves down the Green in total, only 598 people have entered the race.

Some of the well-known dangers found on the Narrows are mentioned in this waiver that all racers must agree to and sign prior to entering. For example .... "lacerations" .... "impalement" .... "extensive dental damage" .... and my personal favorite: "I have been warned of the stupidity of this activity". So yeah, sure, Class V, but not just skills does it take; rather, a sense of courage more than the rest of us have -- have we the skills or not.

The Green Race began in 1996 and has been scheduled to start at 12 noon on the first Saturday in November ever since. Racers start from the river right side of the long pool below Bride of Frankenstein and finish about five minutes and one half of a miracle mile later on the river left side of the pool below Rapid Transit. The racers take off in one minute intervals, starting with long boats (the "open" division -- anything goes), then short boats under 9', with the known racers seeded to keep passing to a minimum.

Initially born from a conversation between friends during a Gauley shuttle drive nineteen years ago, Leland Davis then organized the first Green Race, and kept them running through 2002. Jason Hale, also in from the beginning, took over in 2003 and has been the main front-man since then. The race "actually happens" because of a lot of people, chief among them being John Grace -- as well as a rotating cast of characters who help with timing, food, details, etc. Additionally, Chris Bell has collected all the prior years' results into one clickable and sortable database (linked above), and is now handling online registration on his boatingbeta site.

As an aside, please note that American Whitewater is in no way a sponsor, organizer, sanctioner, or anything else related to the race -- save for most local AW members being pretty fired up about it. This page is just a collection of far-flung information pulled together into one place, designed to answer the random Green Race trivia question and help you kill time until you're out paddling again.

Hiking Directions and Page of Maps

Green River Narrows Race John Grace's official Green Race page, featuring all the LVM archival footage, podcasts, updates, and more. Also, Facebook now has a Green Race page.

Race Reports from Blogs and Websites

Leland Davis' website short report and results 1997
Xacters.net (dead link) brief report on 2004
Jackson Kayak report from Clay Wright, 2005
The Green Race According to Hale Results and Tidbits, 2005
Groundswell Project report from Clay Wright, 2005
Jackson Kayak piece by Eric Jackson, 2005
Downstream Movement report, Cooper Lambla, 2006
Watergirls at Play account by Andria Baldovin, 2006
Shred Ready comments by Tom Sherburne, 2006
Team Dagger report on Pat Keller's race, 2006 (dead link)
Team Eskimo report from Chan Jones, 2006
Team Riot report from Nathan Silsbee, 2006
Team Dagger second report, 2006 (dead link)
Shane Benedict's Boofing into a Stadium fine report, 2007
Team Dagger interview with Andrew Holcombe, 2007
Atlantic Kayaker report from Kelsey Thompson, 2007
Shane Benedict's write-up for Kayak Session, 2007
Jeremy Lauck's report on Chasingrain.com, 2007
Jackson Kayak report from Chris Bucksey, 2007
Water Tribe blog report from Chan Jones, 2007
ZoarOutdoor's blog from Fergus Coffey, 2007
Jackson Kayak report, Nick Troutman, 2007
Matias Nunez's report, in Spanish, 2007
Rob Tompkins' blog report & photos, LVM Giant Slalom, July 2008
LVM-TV's race report, video, and results, Giant Slalom, July 2008
Hannah Grace Cole's fine series of pics, Giant Slalom, July 2008
Team Shred Ready report from Tom Sherburne, 2008
Andrew Bentley's report on WorldKayakBlogs, 2008
Anna Levesque's report on WaterGirlsAtPlay, 2008
Matt Wallace's blog post on Southern Boof, 2008
Team Werner report from Danny Mongno, 2008
Team Riot report from Chris Gragtmans, 2008
Team Pyranha report from Chan Jones, 2008
Nick Murphy's story about his 1st race, 2008
Matias Nunez's chatter, in Spanish, 2008
Shane Benedict's story, with party pics, 2009
Matt Wallace's race story, 2009
Shane Benedict's week of posts for Kayak Session, 2010
Werner Blog write-up on Adriene's victory, 2010
Mike Dawson's comments on his blog, 2010
Nick Troutman's pre-race comments for Jackson, 2010
Will Pruett's comments on Full Throttle, 2010
Isaac Levinson's post following his 2nd place showing, 2010

Ross Herr's

Jason Beakes'

Newspaper and Magazine Articles

AW Journal article by Leland Davis about the first race in 1996
Hendersonville Times-News article about Al Gregory's victory in 2000
Paddler Magazine (dead link) account in 2001
Hendersonville Times-News pre-race article 2003
CanoeKayak.com article about 2005 race
Hendersonville Times-News pre-race article 2006
Denver Post article about Dagger's role in 2006
GoUpstate.com pre-race article 2007
BlueRidgeNow.com pre-race article 2007
BlueRidgeNow.com piece about Leland/Andria 2007
Paddling Life (online magazine) article about 2007
Outside Magazine article, in Portugese, 2007
Paddling Life (online magazine) article 2008
The Mountain Xpress' short piece, 2008
Kanu Magazine article, in German, 2009
Canoe and Kayak article, 2009
Shane Benedict's post-race thoughts for KayakSession, 2010
CanoeKayak.com's coverage, Greasing The Green, 2010

Asheville Citizen-Times

Shane Benedict's

Mtn. Xress

Christine Boush's pre-race article, Blue Ridge Outdoors, 2011
Chris Gragtmans' article in Blue Ridge Outdoors, 2011

Photo Albums

Chris Bell's photo archive on Boatingbeta.com 2001, 2002, 2003
Randy Pegram's archive of undated early pics 2002, 2003
Dallas Shaw's (dead link) collection on Lithiumkayaking.com 2005
Ben Edson's collection on Downstreamphoto.com 2005
Ryan Bednar's (dead link) collection on RyanBednar.com 2006
Ben Edson's collection on Downstreamphoto.com 2006
Shannon Taylor's set on micromission blog 2006
Ben Edson's & Ben Wiggins' pics on Downstreamphoto.com 2007
Thomas Oliver's & Glenn LaPlante's photos on Flicker 2007
Mike Justus' slide show at BlueRidgeNow.com 2007
Bryan Owen's shots at AstralBuoyancy.com 2007
carolinatexas' gallery of stills on YouTube, 2007
Karlshred's (??) photos on the Picassa 2007
Judy Ranelli's gallery on Smugmug, 2007
Phil Raber's gallery on Picassa 2007
Jim Wei's gallery on Picassa 2007
Randy Pegram's slideshow 2007
Ben Edson's & Ben Wiggins' Gorilla pics, Downstreamphoto.com, 2008
Patrick Elliot's pics from Gorilla and Go Left on Photobucket, 2008
Thomas Oliver's & Glenn LaPlante's photographs on Flicker, 2008
Chris Port's photos from Go Left, Riverlight Photography, 2008
Valerie Blanchette's photos from Go Left on SmugMug, 2008
Arlyn Agababian's photos from Go Left on Picassa, 2008
teledave's ?? photos on TetonGravityResearch, 2008
Ben Gaston's Zwick's pics, Gradient Imagery, 2008
John Blackshire's picture gallery on Flicker, 2008
Randy Pegram's Gorilla slideshow pics, 2008
Anthony Bellemare's gallery on Flicker, 2008
Seth Richardson's photos on Picassa, 2008
Mark Van Liere's mostly Gorilla shots, 2008
Phillip Turner's mostly Gorilla shots, 2008
Robert Hurst's fisheye lens shots, 2008
Scott Sarrell's top hole at Zwick's pix, on Picassa, 2009
Anthony Bellemare's gallery of black and whites, 2009
Randy Pegram's slideshow, Gorilla close-ups, 2009
Sam Silvey's gallery on LookOutdoorNews, 2009
Adam Miles' Zwick's, Go Left, and Gorilla, 2009
Jenni Miehle's collection on Photobucket, 2009
Joey Jarrell's collection on Photobucket, 2009
Chris Bell's large gallery on SmugMug, 2009
Arlyn Agababian's gallery on Picassa, 2009
Keith Crawford's gallery on Picassa, 2009
BigJohn's collection on Smug-Mug, 2009
Shane Benedict's Picassa Pics, 2009

Wes Bobbitt's gallery on photoreflect, 2010
Randy Pegram's Frankenstein pics, 2010

Video Clips

Ryan Scott/CRG Productions clip from 2004
Clayton Gaar's (& N. Silsbee's) YouTube 2006
Stephen Beeson's YouTube clip 2006
AutoBoof Productions clip from 2006
Ryan Richardson's YouTube clip (w/ Cooper) 2007
Nick Troutman's clip for Jackson Kayak 2007
Todd Johnson's YouTube short boats 2007
Matt Alverson's YouTube clip from 2007
Big Kahuna's YouTube clip 2007
Shane Benedict's pre-race chatter clip, October 2008
IceBurg Studioz' shredder Gorilla, YouTube, 2008
Bottoms Up Kayaking's Monkey carnage, 2008
Josh Dalton's mostly carnage video, 2008
Virginia Balfour's Gorilla YouTube, 2008
Peter Savage's Gorilla YouTube, 2008
LVM's post-race quickie clip, 2008
Stephanie Augras' Vimeo, Frenchman Eric Deguil, 2009
brasconect's clip of Wes Gentry's OC1 ride, 2009
Steve Krajewski's variety clip, on Vimeo, 2009
Adam Secrest's short Gorilla montage, 2009
Blaine Patrick's contribution, Vimeo, 2009
Zach Heaton's clip, mostly Gorilla, 2009
Mark Armistead's Vimeo piece, 2009
Pilot Collective's highlights, Full Coverage, Amongst it TV, 2010
Shane Benedicts' pre-race warm-ups and chitter-chatter, 2010
Will Ritchie's A short Jason Beakes' Go Left gone awry, 2010
Pilot Collective's The Chronicles of Gnarnia, carnage, 2010
Pilot Collective's nice Gorilla carnage compilation, 2010
Rapid Media's Clay Wright interview on race day, 2010
Derek Rippe's GoPro on a paint roller YouTube, 2010
Crystal Gustin's fine Notch video on YouTube, 2010
Steve Krajewski's moving pictures, Vimeo, 2010
Git Wet Productions video on YouTube, 2010
7 Finger Media's Everybody Shines, 2010
M Neff's Gorilla clip on YouTube, 2010
Ross Herr's three guys talking, 2010
Josh Fitz's short at Gorilla, 2010
kayakmb's short Coffey, 2010

"Class Five Certified"
The 94 Person Sub 5-minute Honor Roll:
Drew Austell	Nate Elliot	DJ Jacobson	Billy Murphy
Joe Barkley	John Grace	Chan Jones	Jared Seiler
Jason Beakes	Keegan Grady	Billy Jones	Jesse Shimrock
Shane Benedict	Chris Gragtmans	Pat Keller	Nathan Silsbee
Geoff Calhoun	Al Gregory	Brian Kirk	Paul Stamilio
Jules Campbell	Nik Haase	Brian Knight	Daniel Stewart
Riley Cathcart	Jason Hale	Isaac Levinson	Eric Strittmatter
Caleb Coaplen	Chris Harjes	Adriene Levknecht	Rob Tompkins
Fergus Coffey	Adam Herzog	Toby MacDermott	Nick Troutman
Mike Dawson	Tommy Hilleke	Dustin Marquart	Corey Volt
Eric Deguil	Andrew Holcombe	Pablo McCandless	Bo Wallace
Tad Dennis	Eric Hurd	Scott McClusky	Clay Wright
Drew Duval	Dane Jackson	Michael Montagne	Chris Young
.	.	.	.
Louis Geltman	Severin Haberling	Mark Taylor	Jesse Wilensky
Joel Kowalski	Darren Albright	Vavrinec Hradilek	Ryan Dekay
Dave Herman	David Cohen	Chris Stafford	Gerd Serrasolses
Hunt Jennings	Kyle Hull	Kelly Jordan	Jake Greenbaum
Katrina Van Wijk	Dave Fusilli	Stephen McGrady	Will Rudisell
Ben Fraker	Matt Anger	Jakub Nemec	Bradley McMillan
Cooper Sallade	Jess Albright	Clay Lucas	Galen Volckhausen
Jordan Poffenberger	Derek DelBuono	Wade Harrison	Andrew McKewan
Colin Hunt	Cameron Thacker	Alec Vorhees	Michael Welch
Robert Waldron	Aaron Mann	Bernie Engelman	Wyatt Hyndman
Ryan McAvoy	Taylor Coffer	.	.

(teach me to alphabetize this table, i'm a moron)

Full-length Films

The Green Race Movie (2007) Chris Gallaway's fine film about the history and challenge of the Green Race, as well his own efforts to train and compete in 2006. Chris' movie won Best Whitewater Film at the 2008 Reel Paddling Film Festival, as well as Best Documentary and Best of Show at the 2008 National Paddling Film Festival.

LVM Back Issues Featuring the Green Race

Image of Lunch Video Magazine DVD cover.

Issued quarterly for years, Lunch Video Magazine was your Asheville-based source for the good shit worldwide. Often filmed close to home, too, with plenty of Green Race footage through the years. Relevant Back Issues: 1, 3, 7, 11, 14, 18, 21, 25, 29....? Some are still available in groups at Amongsit.com.

Other Video

Image of Playin' in the Back Yard DVD cover.

Playin' In The Backyard (2000) Leland Davis' full-length video devoted to the entire Narrows, including a rapid-by-rapid breakdown and a separate section about the Green Race. Most of the footage shot in 1997/98, and included in the extras is a Pat Keller helmet cam of the race course (fast run).

...hrrmph, those lines seem way too far apart now... :)

The 2017 Winners
Division	Paddler	Time
Open	Eric Deguil
Women	Adrienne Levknecht
Short Boat	--	--
Hand Paddles	--	--
C1	--	--
OC1	--	--
Ironman	--	--

Course Records
Division	Paddler	Time	Year
Open	Mike Dawson	4:10	2012
Women	Adrienne Levknecht	4:38	2015
Short Boat	Mike Dawson	4:30	2012
Hand Paddles	Bill Clipper	5:07	2011
C1	Ben Fraker	4:47	2013
OC1	Jordan Poffenberger	7:06	2012
Ironman	Mike Dawson	8:40	2012

Open Class Winners by Year
Year	Winner	Time	Boat
1996	Clay Wright	4:57	Pyrahna Mtn. 300
1997	Jason Hale	5:13	Prijon Tornado
1998	Jason Hale	5:04	Prijon Tornado
1999	Tommy Hilleke	5:03	Prijon Tornado
2000	Al Gregory	4:59	Pyranha Master
2001	Tommy Hilleke	4:42	Prijon Tornado
2002	Tommy Hilleke	4:49	Prijon Tornado
2003	Tommy HIlleke	4:42	Prijon Tornado
2004	Tommy Hilleke	4:35	Prijon Tornado
2005	Tommy Hilleke	4:34	Prijon Tornado
2006	Pat Keller	4:36	Dagger Green
2007	Andrew Holcombe	4:27	Dagger Green
2008	Pat Keller	4:31	Dagger Green
2009	Andrew Holcombe	4:18	Dagger Green
2010	Mike Dawson	4:26	LL Stinger
2011	Isaac Levinson	4:22	LL Stinger
2012	Mike Dawson	4:10	LL Stinger
2013	Pat Keller	4:14	Dagger Green
2014	Isaac Levinson	4:19	Jackson Karma Unlimited
2015	Dane Jackson, Eric Deguil (tie)	4:13	Karma Unlimited, Stinger

Participation by Year
Year	Total	Women	Ironmen
1996	16
1997	21	4
1998	25	1
1999	39	1
2000	37	1
2001	64	3
2002	65	5
2003	57	4	1
2004	8
2005	75	3	5
2006	116	6	9
2007	105	6	18
2008	92	3	9
2009	126	6	21
2010	136	6	22
2011	120	4	24
2012	153	5	32
2013	121	4	24
2014	164	7	canceled
2015	--	--	--

Fisheye image of boats and competitors before Green Race.

Green Race Fun Facts

Most years raced: Jason Hale, 18, Tommy Hilleke, 17
Oldest Green racer: Jerry Jascomb, 57, in 2011
First Ironman: Glenn LaPlante (Long and Short boats), 11:40, 2003
First Superman: Paul Stamilio (Long, Short, Handpaddles), 16:48, 2007
Total number of racers in 19 years: 598
Number of men who have raced: 566
Number of women who have raced: 32
Number of people sub 5 minutes: 94
Total number of race runs: 1714
Number of first-timers, past seven years: 35, 51, 45, 34, 54, 39, 60
Avg. % of first-timers in past seven years of races: 34%
Number of people who have raced 10 or more years: 13
Fastest average time of the 10-year racers: John Grace, 4:49
Release Levels: 100% .... ( '04 @ 250%, '07 @ drought special 2x60%, '08 @ low drought 100%, '12 @ 12", '15 @ 11" )
Actual length of race: Real close to .55 miles

Messing About in Green Boats

A host of old school long boats were used over the years in attempts to win or place well in the Green Race. Many are still paddled competitively. Since 2006 five separate limited edition boats have been designed with the Green Race specifically in mind.

Prijon Tornado -- The workhorse of winning boats for years, having won 8 out of 19 races to date. Made from 1995-2000(?) and now out of production, coveted, and hard to find --- with the aluminum mold lying in disrepair outside some German factory --- the Tornado will become a relic.

Dagger Green Boat -- Introduced in 2006 and a Pat Keller/Snowy Robertson design, the Green Boat has now won five races and became available commercially in March 2008 -- leading to 32 of the 60 long boats in the 2008 race being Dagger Green Boats! (More on the Green Boat here and here).

Wavesport Momentum -- A Robert Peerson design in 2006...(more soon...a photo linkie perhaps?). Did not become commercially available.

Liquid Logic Remix 100 -- Local designer Shane Benedict's offering, out just in time for the 2007 race. Here is his description of the process he used to build it, some pictures of the first runs, and one other nice photo. Only about 8 of these boats were made.

Liquid Logic Remix Stinger -- Shane Benedict's speed machine, which debuted at the 2009 race. Here's the story and some pics, an early production video and a post-race Stinger stand-up. These crafts became available commercially in the Summer of 2013, and here's a nice October 2013 retrospective.

Jackson Karma Unlimited -- Jackson's new longboat, out in time for the Fall 2013 race season, including five boats showing at the Green. Dane Jackson, at Gorilla here, has two strong second place finishes in his (here's a pre-race training video), and Isaac Levinson won the 2014 race in his. The Karma Unlimited may go in to commercial production (?).

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The Ten Count

Thirteen people have
run the Green Race
for at least ten years:

Eric Chance
Caleb Coaplan
John Grace
Chris Gragtmans
Jason Hale
Eli Helbert
Tommy Hillike
Pat Keller
Keith Sprinkle
Bo Wallace
Jeff West
Clay Wright
Chris Young

More Green Stuff

First Full Descent: Tom Visnius & John Kennedy, November 1988.
Fastest Top-to-Bottom time: 27:45....at Jerry's Baddle, March 2007, Toby McDermott & Chris Gragtmans (tie). This was a year when the kayak portion ended at Fishtop, not at the campground like it does now.
Most laps in a day: 11, (Zach Fraysier, Jeff West), August 2011, blog post, and 10 (West, Shanin, Bowman), July 2006, AW Journal.
Early (1990) AW Journal "Two-Gallon River" (Callaway, Koll).
Most major rapids can be viewed here in a video promo for "Locals Only", this one featuring Chris Gragtmans.

2013 pic from above the Monkey

This page was created in the Spring of 2007 by: John Pilson, Asheville, NC. To find me for additions or corrections: johnpilson at the gmail

Andrew Looks At Sunshine

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