Green Race Information Page


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The Green Race Information Page

Click Here For All Results
(fantastic database from Chris Bell and boatingbeta.com)

The 16th annual Green Race was held on
Saturday, Nov. 5th, 2011 @ 12 noon

No doubt the single most famous, most respected, and most competitive creek race on the planet, the annual Green Race remains a fabulous and homespun little affair held each Fall on the steepest section of western North Carolina's Green River Narrows. Local boaters train here for much of the year due to the reliable flows, and people come from literally around the world to compete. More than five hundred friends and family members either hike or paddle in to watch and cheer on every racer, scattering themselves along the river's boulders and bedrock near the photogenic signature rapid called Gorilla -- a.k.a. "The Monkey" -- heart and soul of the entire run.

Looming larger than life in any paddler's mind, the Green Race is -- save for a few individuals -- largely not about winning. It's more about having clean lines and a safe run, making a personal best time, beating (or losing to) a friend by a few seconds, and simply participating in such a unique event and the fine community that surrounds it all. And yet to date, in sixteen years, with perhaps a couple thousand people having navigated and portaged themselves down the Green in total, only 446 people have entered the race.

Some of the well-known dangers found on the Narrows are mentioned in this waiver that all racers must agree to and sign prior to entering. For example .... "lacerations" .... "impalement" .... "extensive dental damage" .... and my personal favorite: "I have been warned of the stupidity of this activity". So yeah, sure, Class V, but not just skills does it take; rather, a sense of courage more than the rest of us have -- have we the skills or not.

The Green Race began in 1996 and has been scheduled to start at 12 noon on the first Saturday in November ever since. Racers start from the river right side of the long pool below Bride of Frankenstein and finish about five minutes and one half of a miracle mile later on the river left side of the pool below Rapid Transit. The racers take off in one minute intervals, starting with long boats (the "open" division -- anything goes), then short boats under 9', with the known racers seeded to keep passing to a minimum.

Initially born from a conversation between friends during a Gauley shuttle drive sixteen years ago, Leland Davis then organized the first Green Race, and kept them running through 2002. Jason Hale, also in from the beginning, took over in 2003 and has been the main front-man since then. The race "actually happens" because of a lot of people, chief among them being John Grace -- as well as a rotating cast of characters who help with timing, food, details, etc. Additionally, Chris Bell has collected all the prior years' results into one clickable and sortable database (linked above), and is now handling online registration on his boatingbeta site.

As an aside, please note that American Whitewater is in no way a sponsor, organizer, sanctioner, or anything else related to the race -- save for most local AW members being pretty fired up about it! This page is just a collection of far-flung information pulled together into one place, designed to answer the random Green Race trivia question and help you kill time until you're out paddling again.

Hiking Directions and Page of Maps

Green River Narrows Race John Grace's new Official Green Race page, featuring all the LVM archival footage, podcasts, and more.



Race Reports from Blogs and Websites

Newspaper and Magazine Articles

Photo Albums

Video Clips

Full-length Films


Image of The Green Race Movie DVD.
  • The Green Race Movie (2007) Chris Gallaway's fine film about the history and challenge of the Green Race, as well his own efforts to train and compete in 2006. Chris' movie won Best Whitewater Film at the 2008 Reel Paddling Film Festival, as well as Best Documentary and Best of Show at the 2008 National Paddling Film Festival.

LVM Back Issues Featuring the Green Race


Image of Lunch Video Magazine DVD cover.

Issued quarterly, Lunch Video Magazine is your Asheville-based source for the good shit worldwide. Often filmed close to home, too, with plenty of Green Race footage through the years. Relevant Back Issues: 1, 3, 7, 11, 14, 18, 21, 25, 29.






Other Video


Image of Playin' in the Back Yard DVD cover.
  • Playin' In The Backyard (2000) Leland Davis' full-length video devoted to the entire Narrows, including a rapid-by-rapid breakdown and a separate section about the Green Race. Most of the footage shot in 1997/98, and included in the extras is a Pat Keller helmet cam of the race course (fast run).











...hrrmph, those lines seem way too far apart now... :)





The 56 Person Sub 5-minute Honor Roll:
Drew Austell Nate Elliot DJ Jacobson Billy Murphy
Joe Barkley John Grace Chan Jones Jared Seiler
Jason Beakes Keegan Grady Billy Jones Jesse Shimrock
Shane Benedict Chris Gragtmans Pat Keller Nathan Silsbee
Geoff Calhoun Al Gregory Brian Kirk Paul Stamilio
Jules Campbell Nik Haase Brian Knight Daniel Stewart
Riley Cathcart Jason Hale Isaac Levinson Eric Strittmatter
Caleb Coaplen Chris Harjes Adriene Levknecht Rob Tompkins
Fergus Coffey Adam Herzog Toby MacDermott Nick Troutman
Mike Dawson Tommy Hilleke Dustin Marquart Corey Volt
Eric Deguil Andrew Holcombe Pablo McCandless Bo Wallace
Tad Dennis Eric Hurd Scott McClusky Clay Wright
Drew Duval Dane Jackson Michael Montagne Eric Young
. . . .
Louis Geltman Severin Haberling Mark Taylor Jesse Wilensky




The 2011 Winners
Division Paddler Time
Open Isaac Levinson 4:22
Women Adriene Levknecht 4:57
Short Boat Eric Deguil 4:47
Hand Paddles Bill Clipper 5:07
C1 Jay Ditty 5:19
OC1 Eli Helbert 10:01
Ironman Isaac Levinson 9:17
Race Records
Division Paddler Time Year
Open Andrew Holcombe 4:18 2009
Women Adriene Levknecht 4:57 2011
Short Boat Pat Keller 4:40 2007
Hand Paddles Bill Clipper 5:07 2011
C1 Tad Dennis 4:57 2010
OC1 Eli Helbert 8:29 2005
Ironman Andrew Holcombe 9:01 2009
Open Class Winners by Year
Year Winner Time Boat
1996 Clay Wright 4:57 Pyrahna Mtn. 300
1997 Jason Hale 5:13 Prion Tornado
1998 Jason Hale 5:04 Prion Tornado
1999 Tommy Hilleke 5:03 Prion Tornado
2000 Al Gregory 4:59 Pyranha Master
2001 Tommy Hilleke 4:42 Prion Tornado
2002 Tommy Hilleke 4:49 Prion Tornado
2003 Tommy HIlleke 4:42 Prion Tornado
2004 Tommy Hilleke 4:35 Prion Tornado
2005 Tommy Hilleke 4:34 Prion Tornado
2006 Pat Keller 4:36 Dagger Green
2007 Andrew Holcombe 4:27 Dagger Green
2008 Pat Keller 4:31 Dagger Green
2009 Andrew Holcombe 4:18 Dagger Green
2010 Mike Dawson 4:26 LL Stinger
2011 Isaac Levinson 4:22 LL Stinger
Participation by Year
Year Total Women Ironmen
1996 16
1997 21 4
1998 25 1
1999 39 1
2000 37 1
2001 64 3
2002 65 5
2003 57 4 1
2004 8
2005 75 3 5
2006 116 6 9
2007 105 6 18
2008 92 3 9
2009 126 6 21
2010 136 6 22
2011 120 4 24
Fisheye image of boats and competitors before Green Race.

Green Race Fun Facts

  • Most yrs. raced: Jason Hale, 14, Tommy Hilleke, 13
  • Oldest Green racer: Jerry Jascomb, 57, in 2011
  • First Ironman: Glenn LaPlante (Long and Short boats), 11:40, 2003
  • First Superman: Paul Stamilio (Long, Short, Handpaddles), 16:48, 2007
  • Total number of racers in 16 years: 446
  • Number of men who have raced: 421
  • Number of women who have raced: 25
  • Number of people sub 5 minutes: 56
  • Total number of runs: 1216
  • Number of first-timers in past four years: 35, 51, 45, 34
  • Avg. % of first-timers in past four years of races: 35%
  • Release Levels: 100% .... ( '04 @ 250%, '07 @ drought special - 2x 60%, '08 @ low drought 100% )
  • Actual length of race: Real close to .55 miles

More Green Stuff

  • First Full Descent: Tom Visnius & John Kennedy, November 1988
  • Fastest Top-to-Bottom time: 27:45....at Jerry's Baddle, March 2007, Toby McDermott & Chris Gragtmans (tie).
  • Most laps in a day: 11, (Zach Fraysier, Jeff West), August 2011, blog post, and 10 (West, Shanin, Bowman), July 2006, AW Journal
  • Early (1990) AW Journal "Two-Gallon River" (Callaway, Koll)
  • Two headcam clips of full run, Chris Gragtmans, 2006

info on this photo

Messing About in Green Boats


A host of old school long boats have been used over the years in attempts to win or place well in the Green Race. Since 2006 four separate limited edition boats have been designed with the Green Race specifically in mind.


Prion Tornado -- The workhorse of winning boats for years, having won 8 out of 16 races to date. Made from 1995-2000(?) and now out of production, coveted, and hard to find --- with the aluminum mold lying in disrepair outside some German factory --- the Tornado will become a relic.


Dagger Green Boat -- Introduced in 2006 and a Pat Keller/Snowy Robertson design, the Green Boat has now won four races and became available commercially in March 2008 -- leading to 32 of the 60 long boats in the 2008 race being Dagger Green Boats! (More on the Green Boat here and here).


Wavesport Momentum -- A Robert Peerson design in 2006...(more soon...a photo linkie perhaps?). Did not become commercially available.


Liquid Logic Remix 100 -- Local designer Shane Benedict's offering, out just in time for the 2007 race. Here is his description of the process he used to build it, some pictures of the first runs, and one other nice photo. Only about 8 of these boats were made.


Liquid Logic Remix Stinger -- Shane Benedict's latest creation, which debuted at the 2009 race. Here's the story and some pics, the production video... and a post-race Stinger stand-up.



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This page was created in the Spring of 2007 by: John Pilson, Asheville, NC. To find me for additions or corrections: johnpilson at the gmail






Author: John Pilson   Location: @Green 2. Green Narrows
Subject: Green Race  Rapid: The Important Ones
Date: 10/27/09  Level: high runnable
Size: 406.00B  Format: jpeg
AW Photo ID: 18557   AW Reach ID:

Green Race Information Page

Author of photo
John Pilson
Asheville, NC
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