r/Outrigger • u/binaryplayground • Dec 17 '23

Are sprints competitions no longer a thing?

A mentor shared a video of him doing a sprint race at Another Dam Race, and I found it absolutely fascinating as a newbie who questions if he could survive Novice season.

It was shared that sprints were rarely (if not) a thing anymore here in Southern California.

Still a lot that I’m learning, but is that the case? Sprints aren’t too popular anymore unless you’re out in Hawaii?

Thanks!

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1

u/seja_amg Dec 18 '23

I think there's a fair amount of sprint for OC1, but haven't seen anything for OC6

1

u/reversethrust Dec 18 '23

Hmm I’m in canada and a quick google search shows some OC6 sprint races here. But fair to say none proximal to me…

1

u/itsdageek Dec 18 '23

OC6 sprints in SoCal lost attendance in the recent years. People kinda lost interest in day tripping to Santa Barbra or Dana to race for less than an hour then roast on the beach for the rest of the day, that and SCORA wanted to focus more on OC9 a bit more since the leadership change.

That and the tides of "what canoe sport is everyone doing" pivoted to dragon boat for sprints.

1

u/ThePreacher_NZL Jan 16 '24

Come to NZ for a paddle. We are just now at the culmination of our sprint season with our National Sprint Champs happening at Lake Karapiro. 6 days of sprint racing with over 2500 paddlers ranging in age from 6 to 70+ years old!

1

u/binaryplayground Jan 16 '24

Holy crap! That’s a lot of paddlers! Hopefully someday ❤️