The River Rat Post Draw
I went tonight to Memorial Hall in Athol. L. and A. went with me, since I was the only paddler out of our cadre of four who made the trek. We saw River Rat signs all over the place in Athol. From the generic Budweiser "Welcome Race Fans," to hand painted signs featuring rat characters on them.
The hall itself was packed with a boisterous and broad-shouldered crowd. You could barely hear the Lions Club emcees on stage over the din. Behind the registration table on the stage, they had a screen, where they projected the names of the paddlers, according to the number of their draw. Off to the side, there was an actual hand-cranked tumbler with all the names in it. A guy drew them out one by one - each slip of paper was sealed in a little envelope. So he'd open it and pass it to the emcee, who would read it to the guy with the laptop behind the table.
We didn't stick around to the bitter end, but I think there were some 300 boats entered. When the very first name was drawn, the emcee looked out at the crowd and said "Don't shoot the messenger." The number one boat was a pair who had one the race two years ago, Lysieuk and Berry.
We drew 96 and our partners in crime drew 177. The radio guys from WDJF were there. They do live coverage of the draw and the race, flying in a helicopter called, "the Rat Copter," to keep track of the boats.
On the way home, we tuned in on the radio and they said most folks were thinking it was Lysieuk and Berry's race to lose, since they'll start out ahead of the scrum.
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The hall itself was packed with a boisterous and broad-shouldered crowd. You could barely hear the Lions Club emcees on stage over the din. Behind the registration table on the stage, they had a screen, where they projected the names of the paddlers, according to the number of their draw. Off to the side, there was an actual hand-cranked tumbler with all the names in it. A guy drew them out one by one - each slip of paper was sealed in a little envelope. So he'd open it and pass it to the emcee, who would read it to the guy with the laptop behind the table.
We didn't stick around to the bitter end, but I think there were some 300 boats entered. When the very first name was drawn, the emcee looked out at the crowd and said "Don't shoot the messenger." The number one boat was a pair who had one the race two years ago, Lysieuk and Berry.
We drew 96 and our partners in crime drew 177. The radio guys from WDJF were there. They do live coverage of the draw and the race, flying in a helicopter called, "the Rat Copter," to keep track of the boats.
On the way home, we tuned in on the radio and they said most folks were thinking it was Lysieuk and Berry's race to lose, since they'll start out ahead of the scrum.
Post from mobile portal m.livejournal.com