Harbor Days water race draws paddlers to Bangor

BANGOR – For serious paddlers such as Lee Martin of Bangor, the Bangor waterfront has become a favorite place to get in shape for kayak races.

“I come here and train now,” Martin said Saturday, shortly after completing the annual Bangor Lions Harbor Race, one of the highlights of Bangor’s annual Harbor Day celebration, now in its third year. Martin used to do much of his training out of town.

“I like it very much. They’ve cleaned it up. They did a beautiful job,” he said of the city’s ongoing waterfront redevelopment effort.

Martin said the race was a technically tricky one, given the changing waters of the Penobscot River and a 3-mile loop course that requires paddlers to travel upriver and downriver, pitting them against the current and the incoming tide.

The race was open to serious and recreational canoeists, kayakers and those using other paddle-powered vessels, according to Harrison Clark, chairman of the city’s Harbor Committee, which held the event to put the Bangor’s connection to the river in the spotlight.

Martin was one of the nearly 40 people who signed up for the race, in which he competed as part of an international team. His partner for the day was Steve McAleer, a firefighter from St. Stephen, New Brunswick.

Mike and Ellen Handa of Andover, Mass., raced in a two-person outrigger made in Mike Handa’s native Hawaii. They learned of the Bangor race through friends from Topsham.

“We’re always an oddball,” Ellen Handa said, adding that outriggers, though popular on the West Coast, were new to the East Coast. Given the prevalence of canoes and kayaks in this region, the Handas usually race in the “other” category.

“We’re just trying to get others to know about [outriggers],” Ellen Handa said. “It’s like sitting in a Cadillac. It’s a smooth ride.”

Like many of the serious competitors who turned out Saturday, McAleer is a bit of a paddling junky. Last weekend he raced in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The weekend before that he raced in Montreal, Quebec.

Martin and McAleer took the top spot in the pro-boat open class in Saturday races.

“It’s a good sport,” McAleer said of kayaking. He said he and his wife, Lorraine, who keeps him fed and serves as his “pit crew,” have made many friends through the sport. Paddling keeps him fit.

“I’m 49 years old and for a lot of guys my age, contact sports are out,” he said.

Geoffrey Gratwick, a Bangor city councilor and a rheumatologist, held a similar view.

“It’s nice to have something that’s gently competitive when you get older,” said Gratwick. The only rower in the race, he was a member of Harvard University’s national collegiate championship team in 1965.

“This is the theme [of Bangor’s waterfront work] – people using and enjoying the waterfront, and this is a wonderful racecourse,” Gratwick said.

Canoe Racing

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At Bangor

Bangor Lions Club Harbor Race

Overall: Geoff Gratwick 59:06, Kenny Cushman 59:33, Fred Ludwig 1:04:00, Lee Martin-Steve McAleer 1:04:32, John Mathieu-Eric McNett 1:04:52, Barry Dana-John Alsop 1:07:24, Mark Ranco-Chris Francis 1:11:11, Jim Morin-Wes Andrenyak 1:14:03, Rob Grosse 1:18:04, John Carter 1:18:16; OC-1: Rob Grosse 1:18:04, Francis Cyr 1:18:24; OC-2: Lee Martin-Steve McAleer 1:04:32, John Mathieu-Eric McNett 1:04:52, Barry Dana-John Alsop 1:07:24; OC-2 Rec: Charles and Elly Cary 1:33:43; K-1: Kenny Cushman 59:33, Fred Ludwig 1:04:00, Alice Bean Andrenyak 1:25:24; K-1 S: John Carter 1:18:16, Earl Baldwin 1:18:45, John Fontanilles 1:26:15; Double Kayak: Jim Morin-Wes Andrenyak 1:14:03; Novice 1st Year Racer: Will Hunter-Diana Curran 1:52:07; Open: Geoff Gratwick 59:06, Michael and Ellen handa 1:20:17; Rec Division, Overall: Neil Shorey-Bob Miller 45:58, Eric and Ty Taylor 46:57, Mike Kelley 51:47; OC-1: Mike Kelley 51:47; OC-2: Neil Shorey-Bob Miller 45:58; OC-2J: Eric and Ty Taylor 46:57