East Grand students paddling competively

Ready to finish strong in High School Challenge
Photograph courtesy of Kim Sixberry
IN THE RAPIDS – East Grand students Andrew Gilman, stern, and Aaron Henn, bow, navigate through Shopping Cart Rapids in last Saturday’s Kenduskeag Stream canoe race. The pair finished third in the High School division.
    Last Saturday, the East Grand Outdoor Education students used the Kenduskeag River Race as a warm up to Sunday’s Machias River whitewater canoe race, which is the second of four of the High School Challenge races on the Maine Canoe Kayak Racing Organization (MaCKRO) schedule.
    The third High School Challenge race is the Meduxnekeag River Race in Houlton on May 1, finishing with the East Grand Adventure Race on Saturday, May 8, where paddlers will canoe about seven miles on mostly flat water on Baskahegan Stream to the town of Danforth.
    Student Mitchell Bartlett teamed up with outdoor education instructor Dave Conley April 17 for a third-place finish in the Junior/Senior division of the Kenduskeag race, with a time of 3:09:22. And, in the High School division, East Grand students Aaron Henn and Andrew Gilman were third with a time of 3:19:30.
    Also taking first place in the Century division of the 16-mile in the Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race and seventh overall in the race were Houlton’s Peter Blood and partner Tom Cronkite, with a time of 2:51:25.
Photograph courtesy of Kim Sixberry
WOMEN RACERS – Naomi Gillette of Bangor, stern, and Liz Gilman, bow, a senior at East Grand School entered the Women’s Recreational division in last Saturday’s Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race. They had no problem keeping their canoe upright at Six-Mile Falls and at Shopping Cart.