The Spring Heritage Pecan and Wine Festival, held at Camp Verde’s Community Field, is not known for its athletic events in the slightest. Sure, there is vintage base ball, this time around a doubleheader held between a team from Prescott and the host Excelsiors, but those happen quite often.
At this event, albeit not held directly at the festival’s grounds, was the fifth annual Verde River Runoff, a series of races in the year-round flowing Verde River on Saturday, March 18.
The races launched at two different points: a five-mile course starting at the Clear Creek river access point and a 10-mile course starting at the White Bridge river access point.
“It gets people in touch with the river,” Bob Rothrock, race coordinator, said. “It’s very special having a river in the desert and this is a way of celebrating it.”
There were a variety of different divisions at the event: Men’s solo kayak, women’s solo kayak, stand up paddleboard, tandem kayak, solo canoe, tandem canoe and inflatable kayaks.
Racers took off from both launch points at 10 a.m.
Jeff Johnson, a kayak racer since 1989, came in first in the men’s solo kayak division in 1 hour and 31 minutes, followed up by James Crawford who finished nine minutes later.
Melinda Collins took first in the solo women’s kayak division in 1 hour and 39 minutes, with Alyson Bottke coming in second at 1 hour 52 minutes.
Brian and Ross Teske were the top finishers in the tandem kayak group at 2 hours while Michael and Tony Shaw finished first in the tandem canoe division at 1 hour and 44 minutes.
Stephen Rutter, in 1 hour and 46 minutes, was the winner in the solo canoe section with Mike Graves coming in second at 1 hour 55 minutes. The tandem of Theresa Duran and Jim Graham came in first in the inflatable kayak division.
This is a one-of-a-kind event in Northern Arizona, though similar events are held in states such as Colorado.
Kayaker Adam Barr noted how physically demanding the race was, but that much experience in order to race is not necessary.
From the Clear Creek launch point, Dan Blaettler was the fastest men’s solo kayak racer, finishing in 46 minutes.
Joe and Jodi Dunning were the fastest canoe racers, coming in 2 hours and 20 minutes. Brittany and Richard Ruth finished first in the inflatable kayak group at 1 hour and 20 minutes and Scott Hodges was the fastest stand up paddleboarder, finishing in 49 minutes.
All told, more than 140 participants registered for the event, making a $50 donation to the Verde River Valley Nature Organization in order to register.
“We’re thrilled with the turnout,” Rothrock said. “Thanks to the healthy flow levels in the river we had a lot of people participate.”
The event was run by VRVNO, who took the event over five years ago after it was originally ran by the Northern Arizona University recreation department.
