Great Russian River Race attracts veteran, novice and playful paddlers

The organizers of Saturday’s Great Russian River Race alerted participants at the start to the possibility of underwater hazards that might catch their kayaks or paddleboards.

But they also warned the more common obstacles would be of a floating nature: orange-vested tourists in rented aluminum canoes and strings of inflatable rafts with near-motionless boaters.

Veteran paddlers and laid-back vacationers shared the river Saturday as the seventh annual race took place between Forestville and Guerneville. For both race participants and laid-back boaters, the day offered a chance to soak up sun on a slow-moving stretch of water that wound past silver-leafed willows and towering redwoods.

About 280 people took part in the race, sponsored by the conservation group Russian Riverkeeper.

While race participants exerted ?lots of energy, they said the event ?was less about competition and more about gathering with like-minded enthusiasts. Many know one another from similar events held around Northern California.

“This is more low key, and it’s more festive,” Madeleine King of Fairfax said in comparing the local event with the races.

Many Saturday paddled in costume, including King as Tinkerbell and friend Dave Hook of San Rafael as Peter Pan. Others came as pirates and mermaids. Silly hats were de rigueur.

One aim of the fundraiser is to get people to experience the waterway.

“It’s more of a celebration of the river,” said Adryon Kozel, Russian Riverkeeper’s development manager.

The race included a 4-mile course that began at Odd Fellows Park and an 8-mile course starting at Steelhead Beach. Both courses ended at Johnson’s Beach in Guerneville. There, friends and family waited to join the paddlers for a party with live music and booths selling food, wine and ?beer.

Asked what was different this year, race director Shanna Upton replied, “We have water.”

The river’s flow is determined by upstream dams, but race officials thought the year’s abundant rainfall benefited the participants.

At Steelhead Beach, the race started in three waves. At 11 a.m., the kayakers set out, followed ?three minutes later by men on stand-up paddleboards, or “SUPs.” The women paddleboarders crossed the starting line at 11:06.

Before the race, Bob Charlesworth of San Rafael stood on the beach dressed in his “Bobzilla” monster costume, complete with dinosaur-like tail.

Near him circled his wife, Kim, and children, Sommer, Skye and Jack.

Charlesworth said his wife first took up paddleboarding, but he soon joined her.

“If I don’t go,” he said, “she has all the fun and I don’t.”

At Johnson’s Beach, John Walsh of Mendocino was the first to cross the finish line, traveling the short course in less than 50 minutes.

“It’s fun and it’s a fundraiser for the Riverkeeper,” he said, adding this was his third year in the race.

A number of the racers regularly take part in similar events around the Bay Area, including in San Pablo and San Francisco bays. Some of those paddlers planned to gather later for a pig roast in Forestville, Walsh said, enjoying “a party after the party.”

You can reach Staff Writer Robert Digitale at 707-521-5285 or robert.digitale@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @rdigit.