05/30/06
Young guns steal show
Triebold, Rimer cruise to C-2 title
44TH ANNUAL GENERAL CLINTON CANOE REGATTA
By P.J. Harmer
Staff Writer
BAINBRIDGE — Andy Triebold and Matt Rimer
| | | Star photo by Anita Briggs
Michigan residents Andy Triebold, right, and Matt Rimer won the 70-mile C-2 Pro race at the 44th annual General Clinton Canoe Regatta in 7 hours, 35 minutes, 13 seconds. Triebold and Rimer won by 11:03. The duo placed second to 28-time winner Serge Corbin and Jeff Kolka by two seconds last season. Neither Corbin nor Kolka competed this year because of injuries. Corbin and Kolka won the previous six C-2 Pro events. |
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put on a show Monday at the General Clinton Regatta.
It’s too bad the rest of the C-2 Pro Class had to wait to hear about it later.
Michigan residents Triebold and Rimer won their first Clinton title, finishing in 7 hours, 35 minutes, 13 seconds — 11:03 ahead of Mo Harwood and Steve Lajoie.
"I was real happy and we ran a really smart race," Rimer said. "Just a really good time out th[an error occurred while processing this directive]ere."
However, the one team Triebold and Rimer wanted to beat — 28-time champion Serge Corbin and his partner for the past six titles, Jeff Kolka — weren’t at the race. Each were sidelined because of injuries and skipped this year’s events.
Triebold, 29, and Rimer, 22, lost by two seconds to Corbin and Kolka last season.
"We came out with the intention of proving something," Rimer said. "We were hoping Serge and Jeff would be here. ... We worked hard all fall and spring and came out here hoping to race them and didn’t get the chance.
"It kind of takes away from a personal victory and the chance to race them and beat them if we could," he continued. "There’s nothing to say that we would have (beat them), but it still feels good to win."
Corbin won the previous 21 Clintons with six different partners. Triebold had finished second the past two years, with Lajoie in 2004 and with Rimer last year.
"I would have liked to have seen him here," Triebold said. "You always want to beat him."
Rimer said the two settled into their own pace and followed a gameplan, which included going hard for the first hour. That led to a cushion of more than two minutes, so the two started going all out for intervals of 20-to-30 minutes.
"It couldn’t have gone much better," Triebold said. "Exactly the way we wanted to. ... The key was probably just the start. We got a nice lead off the start and were able to paddle our race."
With Triebold and Rimer already out of the water, Lajoie and Harwood had one of the best battles of the day with brothers Guy and Jean Rousseau for second place.
Lajoie and Harwood’s time of 7:46:17 was one second better than the Rousseau’s, who had won all four of the other races they entered this year. That included the Ed Wessels Canoe Regatta, which runs from Oneonta to Sidney, earlier this month.
"That was great," said Guy Rousseau, 43. "It was very clean, no cheap shots. Just by one foot."
Triebold and Rimer took control early, leaving the excitement for the second-place battle.
Lajoie, 30, and Harwood, 26, were about 20 seconds behind Triebold and Rimer 25 minutes into the race, when the teams came upon logs in the Susquehanna River. Triebold and Rimer cautiously worked through the trouble with no major problems.
"We hit it and got hung up a little," Rimer said. "It didn’t end up rolling us. We came real close and ended up saving it. I imagine a lot of people hit it because it was hard to see it."
Take Harwood and Lajoie, for example. Harwood, who estimated another 20 canoes piled up behind them, said they went in too fast and rolled their canoe. After swimming around and finally turning the boat back over a minute or two later, Lajoie said, they had already lost about 2½ minutes to the leaders.
"That was it," Lajoie said. "It was too hard and there was nobody to really be in a pack to go fast. So there was no point (to try and chase Triebold and Rimer)."
Harwood, who hasn’t participated the past two years, said they rushed to get through the logs.
"You could see it, but it’s one of those deals where you have to slow, just about stop, and then turn the boat and get through there," Harwood said. "We just tried to do it too fast and ended up rolling up on it and it flipped us right over.
"After that, we really never saw (Triebold and Rimer) again," he continued, "and they started making up time after that."
Allen Limberg and Jim Harwood finished fourth in 7:53:11. Jeff Rankinen and Todd Roadman placed fifth in 7:53:59.
Triebold and Rimer came across the finish line to a strong ovation, officially ending Corbin’s 21-year grasp on the championship. Rimer and Triebold both said they plan on returning next year as a team.
"It feels good," Rimer said. "It’s one of the big three races. We’re the first one on record in 20-some years to win it besides Serge and whoever his partner is, so it feels really good.
"We plan on racing a lot of years, I hope" he continued. "But you never know. Anything could happen."
