E-Mail
Print
tool name
closeJosh Pixler, 28, of Bellingham, and Brian Hefter, 33, of Blaine, were ready to canoe for the Metalheads, a team made up of potline workers from the Alcoa Intalco Works aluminum smelter near Ferndale.
Pixler recently moved here from Ohio and was eager to get involved in a big race that everyone at Intalco seemed to be talking about.
Like many teams who race for fun, the potline team’s big emphasis was on beating one rival team – in this case, another Intalco team organized by workers from the smelter’s maintenance department.
"We're looking forward to beating maintenance," Hefter said. "I don"t care what place we come in as long as we're ahead of maintenance."
Mike Rousseau, smelter manager, was on hand to lend some support.
"You guys got an aluminum canoe?" he asked.
"No, plastic," Pixler said.
"What the heck?" Rousseau replied.
OK TO SIT THIS ONE OUT
Jamie Bettencourt, 38, said he had been watching the Nooksack River anxiously for the past week, on his daily commute to his job as a special education teacher at Nooksack Valley High School.
A period of rain followed by warm weather that melted some of the snowpack caused the river to swell several feet and run much faster than usual for race day.
Bettencourt, competing on a team of parents of second-graders from Whatcom Hills Waldorf School, was among dozens of less-than-expert canoeists standing at the riverbank in Everson’s Riverside Park Sunday morning, wondering if he would have to test his skills in the high, swirling stream.
"I'm not as expert as many of the people out here, but I feel comfortable," Bettencourt said not long before the canoe leg was canceled for safety reasons.
In the early afternoon, Bettencourt and a friend had a Frisbee toss while they waited for their road biker to arrive.
"I was disappointed," Bettencourt said. "Mostly I was appreciative."
BRINGIN THE BIG GUNS
After the cancellation of the canoe leg, Michelle Hornof and Heidi Trudel of Bellingham decided to stage some dramatic video of themselves in competition.
They settled their canoe snugly into the wet silt at the edge of the river and got into the canoe, then paddled furiously as a friend knelt nearby with the video camera, framing the shot to make it look as though they were in the water.
Hornof, 39, and Trudel, 28, had hoped to compete for team 157, entitled "Happy Birthday Yacoba Brauginski-to-Sea," in honor of team runner and birthday girl Yacoba Brauginski.
But their spirits were undimmed.
Hornof, who had run the canoe leg for the first time last year, said she had accomplished her goal of beating her 2007 time of two hours and 45 minutes, because all canoeists were assigned a two-hour time for the cancelled leg.
"I beat it by 45 minutes because I've got the big guns right here," she joked, pointing to her flexed bicep.
-
Caregivers
The Courtyard -
Accounts Receivable - Contracts Manager
Sicklesteel Cranes, Inc. -
Finance Director
WTA -
Research & Development Engineer
Samson Rope -
Contracts Assistant, Financial Services
WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
@Nyx.CommentBody@