First Great Peconic Race puts on a first rate show
All eyes in the crowd on Wades Beach just after noon Sunday were looking south at a distant figure clearing Wards Point.
“There he is,” someone shouted, pointing at Taylor Resnick on his stand up paddleboard, digging into Shelter Island Sound in the same rhythmic motion and pace as when he left going in the opposite direction a little over three hours before.
Mr. Resnick, 33, from Montauk, rowed into the beach to applause, whistles and cheers from participants and fans, completing the first Great Peconic Race, a 19-mile circumnavigation of Shelter Island on his stand up paddleboard. He raised his paddle high with a brilliant smile as the first winner in his division.
Surfskier Austin Kieffer, 25, from Asheville North Carolina was already in, winning his division, as was Roger Gocking, from Saranac Lake, New York, the first kayaker across the line.
Mary Scheerer, 55, of Sag Harbor paddled home as the first female winner. It was an “unexpected win,” she said, exhausted but exhilarated, as were many finishers. Ms. Scheerer had fallen from her board several times, but noted, “ A lot of people were falling out there.”
Race Director and founder Billy Baldwin came ashore on his paddleboard a little bit before Ms. Scheerer received her medal. He was suffering from cramps and had to take a quick dip and munch a slice of watermelon to cool off.
But his grin said it all. Mr. Baldwin’s hope is the Island will join popular stand up paddleboard races already on the circuit, including the Blackburn Challenge, a 20-mile open water circumnavigation of Cape Ann in northern Massachusetts, and down south, the Carolina Cup, which attracts large crowds to watch the elite of the sport in action.
His hope seems fulfilled, with more than 80 entrants Sunday and a good crowd of people attending the start and finish.
Mr. Resnick broke early from the pack at the start, which went off around 8:40 a.m., and by the time he was paddling past Crab Creek, he was alone in front, as he would be for the whole 19 miles.
Councilman Peter Reich, who was watching the race from his Boston Whaler, calculated that Mr. Resnick was chugging along at better than 5 miles an hour.
It was a cool and bright morning with reefs of purple clouds low on the horizon in clear blue skies. Flags on the beach were reaching straight out to the south. That north wind would be a factor in the race.
“It got kind of gnarly out there,” Mr. Resnick said at the finish.
All competitors said there was serious chop to the course in several locations.
Competitors were racing for $4,000 in prize money, and proceeds from the Great Peconic Race will go to the Rogue Wave Foundation, a nonprofit that works to help East End children build confidence and self-esteem
The goals of the race were to foster competition and give a great show to Islanders of skill, endurance and speed, Mr. Baldwin said. Plus the race directors wanted to focus on the environment and the fragile nature of the Island’s bays and harbors.
They achieved all objectives Sunday.
The Reporter will post more on the race, and for a full report, see the Reporter’s print edition, Thursday.