Owen pushes two-man team on to victory> Reunited pair think fast to win

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HAMPDEN – Two weeks ago, Steve Woodward was sick and wasn’t able to paddle with his longtime partner Jeff Owen at the St. George River Race.

Last week, Woodward had business in Vancouver, and missed the Passagassawakeag.

On Saturday at the Souadabscook Stream Canoe Race, Woodward of Westbrook and Owen of Newcastle were reunited for the first time this season, and they picked up right where they left off last season – the pair paddled their medium racing canoe faster than anyone else in their division, over the 8 1/2-mile course in the 22nd edition of the race.

Kenduskeag’s Kenny Cushman had the day’s top overall time of 53 minutes, 23 seconds in his sleek long kayak. In all, 137 participants in 76 boats completed the race.

Owen and Woodward posted a time of 59:26 to finish third overall. But it wasn’t exactly easy.

First, Owen and Woodward had to battle for three flatwater miles side by side with two other boats.

Then Owen had to go wading for a little while. But after that, as Owen explained, it was smooth paddling.

“We all went into this shortcut and got hung up,” Owen said. “I just jumped out of the boat and dragged it through.”

Woodward, the sternman, just leaned back and enjoyed the short ride.

“It was great,” he said with a laugh.

Woodward said that Owen’s quick thinking gave them a lead they never gave up.

And in the Souadabscook – unlike most other area races – every boat in a given class leaves the starting line at the same time. So when Owen and Woodward fetched up on a fallen tree, they knew exactly how their prime rivals were faring at the time: not so good.

“We were in third place, Jeff hopped past the first two boats, put us in first, and we stayed there for the rest of the time,” Woodward said.

Chris Francis, who was in one of the other two boats at the bottleneck, said his partner Mark Ranco also leaped out and gave a helping push.

“We got tangled up with all these boats and before we knew it we looked up and they were two boats ahead of us,” Francis said.

In another of the day’s more spirited rivalries, Barry and Lori Dana of Solon paddled their racing canoe to a narrow victory over Matt and Sarah Dingle of Newburgh.

Last week, the Dingles surprised the Danas with a 40-second win at the Passy. But on Saturday, the Danas avenged that loss by winning by a little more than a boat-length. The Dana boat was clocked in 1:01:33, while the Dingles were three seconds back.

“That was an awesome race,” Barry Dana said. “They were a little stronger than us up in the flat water, but anything can happen in white-water.”

The turning point came at the race’s mandatory portage, when the Danas had a smoother transition and the Dingles were slowed by a boat in front of them.

And when both crews got on dry land, Matt Dingle said the Danas took control.

“They caught up and jogged by us at the portage,” he said. “We can paddle a canoe, but we can’t run with one, I guess. Then it was just a tight race to the finish line.”

Lori Dana said that though the Dingles never took the lead again, she could hear them for the final mile.

“They were getting close in the final stretch,” Lori Dana said. “We were hammering for all we were worth because they demonstrated in the top flatwater that they had really good speed. We couldn’t let up for even a fraction of a second.”

Souadabscook Stream Race AT HAMPDEN, 8 1/2 miles

Century class: John Frachella (Hudson) 1:16:28; kayak: Kenny Cushman (Kenduskeag) 53:23, Steve Mosher (Hampden) 55:21, David Fogg (Mattawamkeag) 1:12:35; recreational kayak: Dick Kelley (Brewer) 1:22:03; short kayak: John Carter (Surry) 1:07:25, Mark Bamford (Bucksport) 1:08:50, HI Hasey (Bangor) 1:11:25

One-person canoe: Shane Oliver (Woolwhich) 1:05:39; Bucky Owen (Orono) 1:15:13, recreational canoe: Jamie Hannon (Wiscasset) 1:09:25, Rob Dana (Old Town) 1:11:42, Greg Shute (Whitefield) 1:18:07; two-woman canoe: Christy Stout/Janet Calder (Holden/Old Town) 1:18:45, Tammy Kelly/Cindy Muir (Lamoine/Ellsworth) 1:18:57, Kate Ziminsky/Sheila Sullivan (Wiscasset/Portland) 1:19:27; junior/senior canoe: Bill/Angus Deighan (Newburgh) 1:07:57, Tom Lucier/Maggie Sutherland (Holden) 1:22:00; junior/senior recreation: Errol/Brad Nightingale (Garland) 1:11:59, Carlos/Lou Graves (Carmel) 1:16:41, Dan/Brian Groshon (Hampden) 1:17:23

Two-man long canoe: Bob Martin/Rick Bartlett (Newburgh/Holden) 1:09:11; two-man medium canoe: Steve Woodard/Jeff Owen (Westbrook/Newcastle) 59:26, Mark Ranco/Chris Francis (Old Town) 1:00:26, Paul Brown/Rick O’Donald (Belfast, Newburgh) 1:01:14; two-man medium recreation canoe: Chris Deane/Dan Littlefield (Skowhegan/Camden) 1:04:10, Chip Loring/Scott Phillips (Old Town) 1:04:29, Clint Cushman/Peter Blood (Houlton) 1:07:00; two-man novice canoe: Jacob/John Bogar (Orono/Farmington) 1:15:41, John/Katie Berglund (Tenants Harbor) 1:18:43, Brian Leonard/J. Brown (Hampden/Alna) 1:21:52; two-man short canoe: Paul/Tim McCluskey (Hampden/Bangor) 1:05:01, Daniel Stover/Greg Henderson (Hampden/Bangor) 1:23:52; two-man short recreation canoe: Kent/Ryan Tableman (Veazie/Old Town) 1:11:44, Kevin Toothaker/John Whitney (Newburgh/Kenduskeag) 1:15:03, Bob/Aaron Winslow (Belfast) 1:15:27; two-person mixed canoe: Lori/Barry Dana (Solon) 1:01:33, Sarah/Matt Dingle (Newburgh) 1:01:36; two-person mixed recreation canoe: Brita Holmbom/Tom Cronkite (Searsmont/Etna) 1:05:36, L.B. Gilbert/Mary Hartt (Guilford/Dixmont) 1:11:17, Leslie Winchester/J.R. Mabee (Bangor) 1:11:29

Souadabscook Sprint AT HAMPDEN, Sunday

Long kayak: Steve Mosher (Hampden) 12:29; short kayak: Earl Baldwin (Orrington) 15:52, Dick Kelley (Brewer) 16:31; men’s open canoe: Jeff Owen (Newcastle) 15:03, J.D. Burke (Newburgh) 16:32, Terry Wescott (Bucksport) 16:32; recreation canoe: Chip Loring (Old Town) 15:49; junior/senior canoe: Bill/Angus Deighan (Newburgh) 15:18; junior/senior recreation canoe: Errol/Brad Nightingale (Garland) 15:50, Bill/Patrick Deighan (Newburgh), Candy/Tom Perkins (Ellsworth) 16:40; two-man long recreation canoe: Tom Cronkite/Brad Nightingale (Etna/Garland) 14:47; two-man medium canoe: Paul/Clayton Cole (Groveland, Mass./Corinth), Ralphf Robertson/Bill Anderson (Belfast/Brooks) 14:15; two-man medium recreation canoe: Dan Lettlefield/Chris Dean (Camden/Skowhegan) 14:41; mixed canoe: Sarah/Matt Dingle (Newburgh) 14:07; mixed recreation canoe: Tom Cronkite/Brita Holmbom (Carmel) 15:04, Dan Kelley/Dawn Williams (Orrington/Winterport) 16:05; short recreation canoe: Ken Tableman/Ryan Mitchell (Veazie/Old Town) 15:26, Terry Wescott/Mike Gray (Bucksport) 15:32, Jon Whitney/Kevin Toothaker (Kenduskeag/Newburgh) 16:05; two-woman recreation canoe: Christy Stout/Janet Calder (Holden/Old Town) 17:38