Member Spotlight: Brad Pennington
Gerald Babao February 22, 2009
Photo: Bill Olive
USACK member Brad Pennington won the solo kayak division in the 460-mile Yukon River Quest last summer, setting a new solo record of 44:14:00. The YRQ is the world's longest annual kayak race. It retraces the historic gold rush route from Whitehorse to Dawson City. The race is a continuous format minus two mandatory rest stops at the 200-mile mark (7-hour break) and the 350-mile mark (3-hour break). Aside from these two breaks, the top competitors never stop paddling.
"It is an amazing experience," Brad said. "The YRQ occurs just after the summer solstice. Racing under the midnight sun is something you will never forget." The river is 75 meters across at the start, but mushrooms to 20-times that size near the finish. The course is straight forward at first, but as the river increases in size, mid-river islands can exceed two-miles in length. The speed of the current can vary dramatically depending on which route you take. In that sense, the race requires more mental acuity just as fatigue and exhaustion make navigation increasingly difficult. "At some point, you stop reading the maps and simply regress to the basics of pulling the blade through the water." said Pennington. Success in the YRQ depends largely on pain management. In this regard, Brad's background in the premier (but now defunct) expedition races such as the Raid Gauloises, provide a distinct advantage. "You have to find distractions from the pain, which reaches almost indescribable proportions after sitting in a kayak for 40+ hours - it's something you have to feel firsthand to really appreciate."
Brad's primary competition was the 2004 solo winner, Stephen Mooney. From the outset, their contrast in technique was obvious. Brad said, "I try to maintain a stroke rate of 75 per minute. Stephen was blasting away at 100 spm. He focuses on cadence, which many multisport crossover athletes do. I focus on technique, because there is no way I could maintain such a high cadence for 400+ miles." They were tied for the first 8 hours, already the distance of three standard marathons. Brad passed him, and slowly built a 9-minute lead over the next 140-miles to Carmacks. By the 280-mile mark at Fort Selkirk, Brad had extended his lead to 29-minutes. At the final stop at Kirkman Creek, he was 44-minutes ahead, though in his own words, "looking and feeling something less than human." "I heard the volunteers at Kirkman whispering that the solo record was in range, but no one, including me, knew what the record was. So it felt like I was chasing a ghost, but it did provide the motivation to paddle hard over the final 100-miles."
Brad says his primary goals for 2009 are to defend his YRQ title and make an attempt to break the 24-hour paddling world record, but he also plans to compete at the USACK Marathon K1 Team Trials, hosted by the Lanier Club in May. "My first love in sport is the ICF K1, so I have to attend trials, even though I can't specifically train for that event," says Pennington.
Brad's record setting effort in the Yukon River Quest will be nationally televised this spring as a short-form documentary on the PBS show "Wild Chronicles." His first hand account of the race will also be published in the May issue of Sea Kayaker Magazine.
Congratulations, Brad!
"It is an amazing experience," Brad said. "The YRQ occurs just after the summer solstice. Racing under the midnight sun is something you will never forget." The river is 75 meters across at the start, but mushrooms to 20-times that size near the finish. The course is straight forward at first, but as the river increases in size, mid-river islands can exceed two-miles in length. The speed of the current can vary dramatically depending on which route you take. In that sense, the race requires more mental acuity just as fatigue and exhaustion make navigation increasingly difficult. "At some point, you stop reading the maps and simply regress to the basics of pulling the blade through the water." said Pennington. Success in the YRQ depends largely on pain management. In this regard, Brad's background in the premier (but now defunct) expedition races such as the Raid Gauloises, provide a distinct advantage. "You have to find distractions from the pain, which reaches almost indescribable proportions after sitting in a kayak for 40+ hours - it's something you have to feel firsthand to really appreciate."
Brad's primary competition was the 2004 solo winner, Stephen Mooney. From the outset, their contrast in technique was obvious. Brad said, "I try to maintain a stroke rate of 75 per minute. Stephen was blasting away at 100 spm. He focuses on cadence, which many multisport crossover athletes do. I focus on technique, because there is no way I could maintain such a high cadence for 400+ miles." They were tied for the first 8 hours, already the distance of three standard marathons. Brad passed him, and slowly built a 9-minute lead over the next 140-miles to Carmacks. By the 280-mile mark at Fort Selkirk, Brad had extended his lead to 29-minutes. At the final stop at Kirkman Creek, he was 44-minutes ahead, though in his own words, "looking and feeling something less than human." "I heard the volunteers at Kirkman whispering that the solo record was in range, but no one, including me, knew what the record was. So it felt like I was chasing a ghost, but it did provide the motivation to paddle hard over the final 100-miles."
Brad says his primary goals for 2009 are to defend his YRQ title and make an attempt to break the 24-hour paddling world record, but he also plans to compete at the USACK Marathon K1 Team Trials, hosted by the Lanier Club in May. "My first love in sport is the ICF K1, so I have to attend trials, even though I can't specifically train for that event," says Pennington.
Brad's record setting effort in the Yukon River Quest will be nationally televised this spring as a short-form documentary on the PBS show "Wild Chronicles." His first hand account of the race will also be published in the May issue of Sea Kayaker Magazine.
Congratulations, Brad!
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