“Small on the turnout and long on the fun.” That’s the way local businessman Dave Trine described the first annual Haynes-Apperson Sports Festival Canoe/Kayak Race, which took place Saturday morning along the Wildcat Creek. Five paddling enthusiasts took part in the event that Trine created along with Haynes-Apperson director Dana Neer. Consisting of two events for three divisions of boats — a sprint and a longer paddle for one- and two-person kayaks and canoes — the race was contested over a stretch of the Wildcat between Washington Street and Camp Tycony.

Trine initially got the idea for the race while visiting South Bend.

“My wife and I do a lot of kayaking and we’d gone to South Bend to paddle a little,” Trine said. “The kayaking and canoeing really is a sport up there, because they’ve got the St. Joseph River as well as a man-made river flowing right through their downtown.”

It was on the drive home that Trine made a mental connection between what was in South Bend and what could be here.

“I owned the Kool Breeze Cafe at the time, and I told my wife that it would be cool to sponsor a race on the Wildcat,” said Trine. “I’ve always felt the river is underutilized, so myself, Dana [Neer] and my brother, who owns the Windmill Grill, got together and it turned out Dana was thinking the same thing. We just put it together from there.”

With backing from Neer and the Windmill Grill, the entire process — from conception to realization — was completed in just under two months.

“It was a rather quick process,” Trine said. “We didn’t have our first meeting until late April or early May.”

While Trine may have been hoping for a bigger turnout for the race — “I thought we’d get about 10 or 12 boats,” he said — two people who didn’t mind the lack of entrants were Neil and Noah Laymon of Kokomo. The father-son tandem dominated the sprint race, and followed that win up with a resounding victory in the three-mile trek to Camp Tycony.

“This was fun,” said Neil. “The creek was at a nice, medium level so you didn’t have to portage at all. We didn’t get much practice but I personally paddle quite a bit. This would be a lot of fun if 10 or so local boats show up, because then you can pass some people and it’s more of a race. We’d like to do it again.”

Experience and victory weren’t a necessary component of enjoying the day, however, as evidenced by novice kayaker Mary Rowe. In just her second year of kayaking, Rowe placed second in the single-person kayak division.

“I was joking with my son and said that, when I look back, I can say I paddled in the first one of these,” Rowe chuckled. “It was a great time. It’s a great sport, and it’s wonderful for anybody, really. It’s not real taxing. I’d absolutely come back and do this again next year.”

Like his contestants, Trine enjoyed himself and sees a future for his newborn event.

“This is one of those things where you just want to get your toes wet starting out and see how it goes,” he said. “There were other canoeing events going on today in various places, so maybe next year we can get the word out quicker and have more participation. I think everybody here had a good time; I had a good time and I wasn’t even on the water! We hope to have everyone back next year and make this bigger and better.”

In the sprint division, Neal Bennett took first in the one-man kayak and Rowe was second. Gary Hill won the one-man canoe event while the Laymon tandem won the two-man canoe race.

In the three-mile-race division, Bennett and Rowe were 1-2 in the one-person kayak, and the Laymons won the two-man canoe division.