Sunny for boat race

Heavy rain held off on Sunday morning in Bridgetown for the Sunnyside Boat Race, which took place through 38km of the Blackwood River.

High water levels meant the race started at Sunnyside Oval and headed upstream to Winnejup Falls.

Event organiser Nick Uyen said the race included many different obstacles which made it exciting for both the competitors and spectators.

“There are lots of log jumps and a couple of rapids as well which make for good challenges,” he said.

“We also have lots of new members this year and good numbers taking part in the race, on par with last year really, which is great to see.”

The race was broken down into three different categories — standard, super standard and sports.

“Standard is the entry-level class and boats are only allowed to have aluminium propellers, super standard is our middle class and boats are allowed to have aluminium or stainless-steel propellers from limited brands,” Mr Uyen said.

“Sports is the elite class and the boats can have a larger carburettor and any brand or type propeller and you accrue points in race wins and have to have a set amount of points to be able move up through the classes.”

Overall there were 35 boats entered in the race this year across the three categories, which meant 70 people in total took part.

Results:

Sports:

1st: Jay Branson and Justin Furgison, Time: 46:30. 2nd Matt Even and Nick Gardiner, Time: 47:00. 3rd: Matt Thur and Jake Whatley, Time: 48:15.

Super Standard:

1st: Chris Johnson and Jacob Paggi , Time: 51:26. 2nd: Darren Green and Nick Uyen, Time: 54:46. 3rd: Steven Heath and Nathan Altinier, Time: 56:00.

Standard:

1st: Graham Butt and Michael Ryan, Time: 54.15. 2nd: Tim James and Ed Vaneer, Time: 59:47. 3rd: Jon Mcburney and Corey Scott, Time, 1:00:10.