Paddler father wants more than a tie
A kayak race, not a sappy card, is what Randy Stoner demanded for Father’s Day.
The relentless headwind Sunday was a special surprise as Stoner and his two sons endured their first Spokane River Canoe Classic.
“We paddled our brains out against that wind,” Stoner said as he rested in his kayak at the Harvard Road pullout, the finish line for the six-mile citizens race – a smooth, mostly flatwater course catering to beginners. Canoers and kayakers in the 12-mile marathon ran past the Stoners toward the Class 2 Sullivan rapids and on to the Plante’s Ferry finish line, which took the winning canoe team 1 hour, 58 minutes.
Seth Stoner, 26, and Sam Stoner, 24, stood on the shoreline and smiled at their dad as he caught his breath. After all, it was his crazy idea to enter a river race. The Stoner boys thought a simple card and backyard barbecue would be adequate. But the Chattaroy father wanted adventure and adrenaline.
“I had to take the bull by the horns and ask them, ‘What are you doing for me on Father’s Day?’ ” Randy Stoner said. “I told them, ‘Enter this kayak race.’ “
About 70 racers showed up for the 21st annual event that has become Father’s Day tradition for paddlers. Gusting winds and spits of rain kept about 20 preregistered racers at home, avoiding the morning start at Corbin Park near Stateline, just downstream from the Post Falls Dam.
The Stoners, who are new to kayaking, had no strategy other than stay alive and finish.
“We had to make it up as we went,” Randy Stoner said.
Yet he vows next year the Stoners will return to the river with strategy.
The winners of the canoe marathon, Cheney brothers Jeff and Brian Davis, relied on youthful strength, not skill, to pull off their second consecutive victory in a dinged-up, rented Old Town canoe.
“Training is overrated,” said Jeff Davis, 20. “We’re younger.”
The finish was nearly identical to last year with the Davis brothers outrunning Fuzzy Thurston, of Nine Mile Falls. But this time Thurston and his son John nearly caught the Davis’ canoe. Last year the brothers got a break when Thurston and his son-in-law dumped their canoe just yards from the finish.
“I thought they were going to take us,” said Brian Davis, who noted the Thurstons had skill and a faster boat.
“Nice race, dudes,” John Thurston shouted as the Davis brothers shot past the makeshift finish line designated by a yellow paddle stuck in the weeds. Thurston pounded the side of his boat like a victory drum.
“I hope you guys are tired,” he said.
The boys were tired, but not enough to keep them from enjoying the spotlight.
To them the best part is the bragging.
“Its testicular fortitude,” Jeff Davis said with a proud grin.