South Yadkin Canoe and Kayak Race May 8

By Scott Jenkins

sjenkins@salisburypost.com

More than two decades ago, Rowan County residents Jeff Gobble and Sam Bonds carried their canoes all over to race on the water.

They even competed in the national canoe-racing championships a couple of years, finishing "mid-pack," Gobble recalls.

"It was real tough and we didn't know a whole lot about it," he says. But, he adds, "It was fun."

Then the men realized they didn't have to go far to find fun and satisfy their need for water speed — not with the South Yadkin River flowing through their own backyard.

On May 8, Gobble and Bonds — along with sponsors Alcoa and the Mocksville-Davie Parks and Recreation Department — will host the 23rd annual South Yadkin Canoe & Kayak Race.

The 6-mile race starts at the U.S. 601 river access west of Salisbury in Davie County and ends at the Salisbury pump station access on Hannah Ferry Road. It offers recreation and competition categories for canoes and kayaks. So it will be fun, Gobble says, for everybody from weekend paddlers to serious racers.

"The competitors have kevlar and carbon-fiber canoes and beginners will bring their recreational canoes, just whatever they have that they use at the lake," Gobble says. Judges will decide which category each canoe or kayak belongs in, but it probably won't be all that hard to tell — the high-end boats can cost $3,000.

Whether a racer has a high-dollar canoe or not, he or she can get a race T-shirt by entering on or before May 1. To get an entry form, call Gobble at 704-279-6869 or Bonds at 704-633-8020 or go by the Mocksville-Davie Parks and Recreation Department at 644 N. Main St., Mocksville.

The cost to enter the race is $20, and paddlers can also do that anytime before the event, including the morning of the race beginning at 8 a.m. That's also when registration starts.

The race begins at 10 a.m., with a mandatory meeting and boat inspection at 9:30 a.m.Gobble said when he and Bonds started the local race, there were just six others in the state. That first year, around 30 paddlers participated. The field has expanded in recent years to around 50.

And some will take an extra lap. After the run down the South Yadkin — which includes tandem canoe competition — many will turn around and race solo halfway back up the course before turning and paddling down again.The race includes that second competition "because some of us can't get enough of it," Gobble says.

Butch Hollifield surely hasn't gotten enough. The Gold Hill resident has taken part in every South Yadkin Canoe & Kayak race the past 22 years except one.

And the one year he did miss, his daughter tried to talk him into skipping her graduation from N.C. State University — and let her skip it too, so they could both race.

"I said, 'No, that's not goanna work,' " Hollifield recalls.

Once a top-10 North Carolina canoe racer, Hollifield said highly ranked racers from the N.C. Canoe Racing Association — and competitors from neighboring states — come every year for the South Yadkin contest, along with local paddlers and Boy Scouts.

Hollifield is working with Boy Scout Troop 448 from Coburn United Methodist Church to make the certificates. Bonds pays the Scouts' race registration fees as thanks for their help, he says.

Hollifield was going to sit out the race this year and just help organize it, but one of his 11-year-old twin daughters wanted to take part, so he'll be on the water again.

"If you've got your kid along and they place and get a trophy or something ... that's what motivates me now," Hollifield says.

And Gobble says it's still a lot of fun, which is the point.

"We have a good time putting it on, and a lot of people that come are our friends that we see at other races," Gobble says. "So it's kind of a get-together for us to see them, and they get to do racing, too."

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If you go...

• Free T-shirt will be given to those who postmark registration entries by Saturday

• Late entries and pre-race registration begins at 8 a.m. May 8

• Cost to register is $20

• Starting point: South Yadkin River west of Salisbury

• Finishing point: Salisbury Pump Station

• Race length: 6 miles