Added on May 16, 2016 Sara Swanson

Successful 50th Annual Canoe Race despite snow

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Forty-nine years ago, in 1967, the first boat and canoe race was held as part of Manchester's centennial celebration. The race has gone through changes throughout the years, including the decline and elimination of rowboats, adding categories for women, introducing kayaks, introducing sprints, and shifting the month in which the race takes place. This year's event, although not quite hitting the record-setting number of 100 entries it boasted in the year 2000, sported a very respectable almost-80 entries despite chilly temperatures, wind and occasional snow.

Village president Pat Vailliencourt stated, "We launched a few boats in the snow, held down the easy ups with cinder blocks and wore our long johns, but had a great time. Much better turn out than we expected due to the weather. Launched almost 80 boats, including the sprint race."

The Kiwanis Club thanked all those that volunteered to help, their supporters and those that braved the elements and participated in the race! Here are the results:

In the Competition category:

First place went to Case and Ross Kittel with a time of 33:56.
Second place went to Dave and Cindy Foley with a time of 35:03.

In the Men category:

First place went to Ryan Novess and Eric Flint with a time of 37:19.
Second place went to Joshua Grutzer and Nick Kramer with a time of 38:29.
Third place went to Steve Foley and Dave Zeman with a time of 38:30.

In the Women category:

First place went to Casey Krone and Jessica Hale with a time of 38:30.
Second place went to Margaret Bialecki and Sybil Kolon with a time of 44:01.
Third place went to Cece McClintic and Laura Gilbert with a time of 46:49.

In the Man/Woman category:

First place went to Mark & Laura Schwab with a time of 38:45.
Second place went to Carol Kahn and Edward Conway with a time of 39:41.
Third place went to Peter and Abigail Knox with a time of 40:23.

In the Teen category:

First place went to Tyler Elliot and Sean Sangster with a time of 39:46.
Second place went to Landon Fox and Christopher Williams with a time of 43:42.
Third place went to Brody Brewis and Jacob Rosskopf with a time of 45:12.

In the Adult/Child category:

First place went to Dave Lukasik and Charlie Sexton with a time of 37:30.
Second place went to Dave Lukasik and Liz Sexton with time of 38:16.
Third place went to Zackery Kaiden and Mardy Kaidan with a time of 41:21.

In the Single Canoe category:

First place went to Shawn Mullally with a time of 39:49.

In the Corporate Challenge category:

First place went to Dr. Dana Andrews and Dan Budd of Andrews Family Chiro with a time of 47:13.
Second place went to Nicole and Brian Ery of Andrews Massage with a time of 51:26.
Third place went to Sarah Andrews and Jenn Budd of The Distance with a time of 1:19:34.

In the Single Kayak - Woman category:

First place went to Linda Knox with a time of 40:10.
Second place went to Katie Bonner with a time of 42:39.
Third place went to Colleen Pierce with a time of 43:25

In the Single Kayak - Man category:

First place went to Damien Evans with a time of 39:22.
Second place went to Jordan Herron with a time of 39:42.
Third place went to Noah Langbehn with a time of 40:38.

In the Sprint category:

First place went to the Kittels with a time of 50:28.
Second place went to Kittel/Schwab with a time of 58:38.
Third place went to Knox/Kahn with a time of 1:01:28.

In addition to the regular canoe race festivities, across M-52, Chi Bro Park hosted the Farmer’s Market, as well as face painting, a bounce house, giant, inflatable twister and a trackless train for kids. The Manchester Area Historical Society hosted an open house at their new home at the corner of Main and M-52 which featured a scrap book of canoe race history.