The Maury River in Rockbridge County, Virginia flows through a rugged and beautiful sandstone gorge known as Goshen Pass; one of the prettiest parts of the state. The quality of whitewater paddling in Goshen Pass is as good as the scenery and this combination of rapids and beauty has made the Pass one of the best kayaking and canoeing areas in the Old Dominion. A small community of regular Goshen paddlers formed here decades ago; men and women from all walks of life coming together in the shared interest of whitewater paddling on this gorgeous section of river. Back in 2007 some of these local Goshen paddlers decided to get together to see who could paddle through the Pass in the shortest amount of time. The Goshen Race was born that day and it has continued on an almost-annual basis since then. In 2020 the race was cancelled due to the growing covid-19 pandemic, but this year the Race made its triumphal return. Like a well-made boomerang, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, like McArthur wading ashore on Leyte…the Goshen Race has returned!

Because of the ongoing need for distancing related to the pandemic there was almost no promotion of the Race. Despite this, 30 racers showed up on Saturday, March 6^th, 2021 for the 13^th running of this mass-start downriver race. The field included racing kayaks, creekboats, playboats, a canoe, a C-1, and two tandem canoes. The day was sunny and mild with a flow of 820 c.f.s. moving through the Pass. The mass-start is always entertaining and this year was no exception as 28 boats fought their way through Undercut Rock rapid in a giant mass of churning paddle blades and bumping polyethylene. Slowly the crowd spaced out as the paddlers moved downstream for over two miles toward the finish line. It was Isaac Isaac Hull who the end first, with a time of 11:40. Isaac won the race for his second time in a row, meaning the coveted gold paddle trophy can return to its place of honor on the mantelpiece of the Hull home in Richmond. Another veteran Virginia boater, Josh Pecaric, was 2nd, with Thomas Blue in 3rd. Veteran Goshen racer and “sub-aquatic king” Harris Haynie was the first creekboat, followed by Austin Moran and Nick D'Addario rouding out the creekboat class. We had a record-tying number of women racers this year (5). In 1^st place for the women was Sam Hopkins, then Carrie Hood and Jess Wiegandt for the silver and bronze positions. Travis Overstreet II was the 1st open boat to Indian Pool, then Nathan Frye and Seth Lively in a OC2.

Thankfully there was no carnage whatsoever, but Phillip “Flip” Merica went home with the infamous carnage thong for being the last man to the finish line. Only Flip went home with new underwear, but every racer and every safety volunteer went home with a prize of some sort. Thanks to the longtime and generous support of Appomattox River Company, Pyranha Kayaks, Immersion Research, and Astral Designs we had some quality prizes for each man and woman at the race. Another fine day for “going fast with friends!”

Gordon Dalton

[Full results below]