Winners and all Paddlers, BIG Little River Paddle Race, 2018-04-28

WWALS Watershed Coalition

WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER® WWALS advocates for conservation and stewardship of the surface waters and groundwater of the Suwannee River Basin and Estuary, in south Georgia and north Florida, among them the Withlacoochee, Willacoochee, Alapaha, Little, Santa Fe, and Suwannee River watersheds, through education, awareness, environmental monitoring, and citizen activities.

Winners and all Paddlers, BIG Little River Paddle Race, 2018-04-28 [Up]

Update 2018-07-16: Added a table of all the paddlers with links to pictures of all of them on the water.

Previously you saw the overall winner of the 6th Annual BIG Little River Paddle Race, organized by WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) and Friends of Reed Bingham State Park (FORB), Saturday, April 28, 2018.

Here are all the winners.

Category Winner Time Finish Prize

First Place Overall Lloyd Reeves 30:15
Kayak Solo Male Dan Phillips 39:06
Kayak Solo Female Tracey Vellidis 56:28
Kayak Tandem MM Gregory Antonoplos & son Paul ~~41:37~~ 42:37
Kayak Tandem FF N/A
Kayak Tandem MF Victoria & Paul Horst 1:03:12
Canoe Solo Male Ray Cummings 48:40
Canoe Solo Female N/A
Canoe Tandem MM Wayne Hale & Terry Donahue 41:33
Canoe Tandem FF N/A
Canoe Tandem MF Kurt & Donna Knuth 1:28:37
Fallers Award Gregory Antonoplos & son Paul ~~41:37~~ 42:37
Youngest Participant Zavier McKenzie age 4
Oldest Participant Wayne Hale Age 69
Traveled greatest
distance to
Participate Kurt and Donna Knuth St. Pete, FL

Follow the links for more and bigger pictures, all by WWALS board member and Outings Committee Chair Phil Hubbard and his photographic helpers. Many more pictures are below under Images.

WWALS blog posts

Much more about the winners and the paddle race here:

Pictures of all the BLRPR paddlers 2018-04-28
All Winners of BIG Little River Paddle Race 2018-04-28
Press release about the top three winners: Pictures: BIG Little River Paddle Race 2018-04-28
Announcement of the event: 6th Annual BIG Little River Paddle Race with silent auction 2018-04-28

Table of Paddlers and Winners

This table lists the times of all the paddlers, and where they came from, with links to pictures of them paddling.

Place Time Name Category Award Watershed WWALS
Watersheds City County State

2018 BIG Little River Paddle Race Results
1. 30:15 Lloyd Reeves 1 M Kayak Overall Winner St. Johns outside Crescent City Putnam FL
2. 39:06 Dan Phillips 1 M Kayak Solo Male Kayak Little inside Hahira Lowndes GA
3. 39:43 Phil Hubbard 1 M Kayak Withlacoochee inside Valdosta Lowndes GA
4. 41:16 Bret Miller 1 M Kayak Little inside Barney Brooks GA
5. 41:33 Wayne Hale & Terry Donahue 2 MM Canoe Tandem MM Canoe Ocmulgee outside Gray Jones GA
Wayne Hale Oldest age 69
6. 41:55 Russell McBride 1 M Kayak Withlacoochee inside Quitman Berrien GA
7. 42:37 Gregory Antonoplos & son Paul 2 MM Kayak Tandem MM Kayak Withlacoochee inside Valdosta Lowndes GA
Gregory Antonoplos & son Paul Fallers Award
8. 45:51 Wes Hubbard 1 M Kayak Alapaha inside Valdosta Lowndes GA
9. 46:47 Jason & David Riley 2 MM Canoe Okapilco inside Moultrie Colquitt GA
10. 48:40 Ray Cummings 1 M Canoe Solo Male Canoe Flint outside Fort Valley Peach GA
11. 50:17 Billy Dale Hayes 1 M Kayak Little inside Lenox Cook GA
12. 54:59 John S. Quarterman 1 M Kayak Withlacoochee inside Hahira Lowndes GA
13. 56:28 Tracey Vellidis 1 F Kayak Solo Female Kayak Withlacoochee inside Tifton Tift GA
14. 58:51 David & Rickard Pollock 2 MM Kayak Alapaha inside Tifton Tift GA
15. 59:23 Sydney Doss 1 F Kayak Little inside Tifton Tift GA
16. 1:02:47 Annette Banks 1 F Kayak Little inside Norman Park Colquitt GA
17. 1:03:12 Victoria & Paul Horst 2 MF Kayak Little inside Tifton Tift GA
18. 1:30:28 Francine Pitts Rossman 1 F Kayak Okapilco inside Moultrie Colquitt GA
19. 1:04:47 Kelly Beavers 1 F Kayak Alapaha inside Chula Tift GA
20. 1:05:24 K.C. Beavers 1 M Kayak Alapaha inside Chula Tift GA
21. 1:05:59 George Vellidis 1 M Kayak Withlacoochee inside Tifton Tift GA
22. 1:17:44 Winfred E. Dowdy Jr. 1 M Kayak Withlacoochee inside Valdosta Lowndes GA
23. 1:18:40 Morgan Richards 1 F Kayak Little inside Ty Ty Tift GA
24. 1:19:29 April Richards 1 F Kayak Little inside Ty Ty Tift GA
25. 1:19:32 Irene Clark 1 F Kayak Little inside Omega Tift GA
26. 1:19:34 Margaret Richards 1 F Kayak Flint outside Albany Dougherty GA
27. 1:19:54 Brenda Doss 1 F Kayak Little inside Tifton Tift GA
28. 1:21:15 Michasia Dowdy 1 F Kayak Withlacoochee inside Troupville Lowndes GA
29. 1:21:50 Glen Harris 1 M Kayak Withlacoochee inside Tifton Tift GA
30. 1:23:44 Sam Cornwell 1 M Canoe Flint outside Camilla Mitchell GA
31. 1:23:50 Brandon Carter 1 M Kayak Withlacoochee inside Valdosta Lowndes GA
32. 1:24:00 Amelia Cornwell 1 F Kayak Flint outside Camilla Mitchell GA
33. 1:26:11 Cindy Greene 1 F Kayak Alapaha inside Arabi Crisp GA
34. 1:27:19 Megan Green 1 F Kayak Skidaway outside Savannah Chatham GA
35. 1:27:28 Angie McDaniel 1 F Kayak Withlacoochee inside Brookfield Tift GA
36. 1:27:43 Pam Cornwell 1 F Kayak Flint outside Camilla Mitchell GA
37. 1:28:37 Kurt & Donna Knuth 2 MF Canoe Tandem MF Canoe Hillsborough outside St. Petersburg Pinellas FL
Kurt & Donna Knuth Traveled Farthest
38. 1:30:22 Etta Lee 1 F Kayak Suwannee inside DuPont Clinch GA
39. 1:35:08 Paul Tolar 1 M Canoe Okapilco inside Moultrie Colquitt GA
40. 1:36:30 Eliza McKenzie 1 F Kayak Alapaha inside Valdosta Lowndes GA
41. 1:36:48 Bobby McKenzie 1 M Kayak Alapaha inside Valdosta Lowndes GA
42. 1:36:50 Zavier McKenzie 1 M Kayak Youngest Age 4 Alapaha inside Valdosta Lowndes GA
43. 1:36:59 Bret Wagenhorst 1 M Kayak Withlacoochee inside Tifton Tift GA

Statistics: 2018 BIG Little River Paddle Race

43 Boats
37 kayaks
6 canoes

49 Paddlers
29 male
20 female

7 Categories
18 Solo Female Kayak
16 Solo Male Kayak
4 Tandem MM Canoe
4 Tandem MM Kayak
3 Solo Male Canoe
2 Tandem MF Canoe
2 Tandem MF Kayak

11 Awards

10 Watersheds
13 Withlacoochee
11 Little
9 Alapaha
5 Flint
4 Okapilco
2 Hillsborough
2 Ocmulgee
1 Skidaway
1 St. Johns
1 Suwannee

2 Sides
38 inside
11 outside

15 Counties
16 Tift
12 Lowndes
5 Colquitt
3 Mitchell
2 Jones
2 Pinellas
1 Berrien
1 Brooks
1 Chatham
1 Clinch
1 Cook
1 Crisp
1 Dougherty
1 Peach
1 Putnam

22 Cities
10 Tifton
9 Valdosta
4 Moultrie
3 Camilla
2 Chula
2 Gray
2 Hahira
2 St. Petersburg
2 Ty Ty
1 Albany
1 Arabi
1 Barney
1 Brookfield
1 Crescent City
1 DuPont
1 Fort Valley
1 Lenox
1 Norman Park
1 Omega
1 Quitman
1 Savannah
1 Troupville

2 States
46 GA
3 FL

You may wonder how can the number of paddlers be 49 when previously we said more than 50 paddled? We have registration forms for several people who paid but did not paddle. Plus several people bid on the silent auction who did not paddle.

As usual there were more kayaks than canoes.

Male paddlers outnumbered female paddlers, but there were more Solo Female Kayaks than Solo Male Kayaks.

How can there be 11 Awards with only 7 Categories? Because BLRPR also gives awards for oldest and youngest paddlers, and for the one from farthest away. The oldest paddler this time was also one of the winners for Tandem MM Canoe.

Plus two people got a Fallers Award from the WWALS Outings Chair. The same two also won the Tandem MM Kayak category.

Most of the paddlers were from within WWALS watersheds, in more or less the order you might expect, except the Suwannee River was only represented by one person who lives near Suwannacoochee Creek. We separated out Okapilco River for Colquitt County paddlers, because that's what Colquitt County calls it. Our neighbor the Flint River had more people than Okapilco River, and people came from some watersheds far away.

Tift, Lowndes, and Colquitt Counties had the most paddlers, all from within WWALS watersheds. Surprisingly, Mitchell and Jones Counties, Georgia, and Pinellas County, Florida, came in next from other watersheds, beating our own Berrien, Brooks, Cook, Crisp, and Clinch Counties.

Valdosta ties Tifton if we don't separate Troupville. It's quite a mix beyond those two. Moultrie was well-represented.

Last year we had nobody from Florida. This year three Floridians paddled, and one of them won First Prize.