El Morro had a pretty impressive turnout for a race that just started last year in 2023, put on by Bill Lafferty. This year the race fell on Father's Day and it was pretty sweet to see all the kids cheering on their dads coming through the finish line.

Mild Bill - part time racer, part time director, full time dad.
The race started nice and easy with about 4 miles through the Newport harbor - the first few miles saw some serious draft trains that kept the field close before exiting the harbor mouth to a nasty south wind.
The 3 mile uphill trek out to the buoy spread out the field quickly. At the buoy turn, some paddlers took advantage of the downwind and took off, before hitting the harbor again and finishing up with 4 miles of flat water. The switch from flat water, to headwind, to downwind, and back to flat water made for some interesting positioning in the race, with certain paddlers favoring different legs of the race and using those chunks of miles to get ahead and make up time.
The Half-way point, a lot more fun on the way back
This race also featured a pretty large women's division, with 13 participants making up a Stock and 14' class. Overall for the women, “Queen of the Channel” Liz Hunter finished 1st on a stock with a time of 2:44:19. She was also the third stock overall for the race- pretty core. Following her on a 14’ Greyhound was Emily Bark at 2:46:33, and Sydney Brouwer on a stock at 2:53:49.

Top 3 women: Liz, Emily, Sydney
First overall and first Unlimited in the race was Max First with a time of 2:16:22. Second Unlimited was Zach Jirkovsky at 2:23:17, and in third finished Chris Russel at 2:24:37.
Max First (left) and Zach Jirkovsky nearing the finish
Spencer Pirdy took home the 14’ win for the second year in a row with a time of 2:31:21, followed by Slader Bark in 2nd at 2:37:12, and Deon Lourens taking 3rd with a time of 2:39:44.

Spencer Pirdy - 1st 14'
David Thomas finished first Stock and 10th overall with a time of 2:35:23. Second and third stocks were Oliver Levine (2:40:41) and Rick Strobel (2:46:32).

David Thomas - 1st stock, 10th overall
Pretty cool to see how many young guns were in the water competing at this race, as well as quite a few paddlers new to the sport. We're definitely noticing an influx of people picking up prone paddling and it's exciting to see where the sport will go in the next few years.

El Morro Classic 2024 Winners
NAME | DIVISION | PLACE | TIME |
MAX FIRST | UNLIMITED | 1 | 2:16:22 |
ZACH JIRKOVSKY | UNLIMITED | 2 | 2:23:17 |
CHRIS RUSSEL | UNLIMITED | 3 | 2:24:37 |
SPENCER PIRDY | 14' | 1 | 2:31:21 |
SLADER BARK | 14' | 2 | 2:37:12 |
DEON LOURENS | 14' | 3 | 2:39:44 |
DAVID THOMAS | STOCK | 1 | 2:35:23 |
OLIVER LEVINE | STOCK | 2 | 2:40:41 |
RICK STROBEL | STOCK | 3 | 2:46:32 |
LIZ HUNTER | WOMENS OVERALL | 1 | 2:44:19 |
EMILY BARK | WOMENS OVERALL | 2 | 2:46:33 |
SYDNEY BROUWER | WOMENS OVERALL | 3 | 2:53:49 |
Full Results HERE
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