Rolling on the river (photo gallery)

HILLS - Calvin Hassel, the fastest paddler in the United States, helped burnish the increasingly shiny image of the Great Iowa River and Canoe and Kayak Race on Saturday.

When Rick Hill of Iowa City, one of the event's organizers, introduced Hassel to the other competitors, he told Hassel to face away from the crowd.

“Take a good look at the back of his head. That's all you're going to see today,” Hill said.

For the most part, that was true.

Hassel, 48, of Grand Island, Neb., who has more than 50 national titles to his credit, won the solo canoe event against some stiff competition.

He and Kathy Brimeyer of Dubuque, with whom he had never paddled before Saturday, also won the tandem canoe competition.

The paddler who actually saw more than the back of Hassel's head was John Dage of North Liberty. Dage, 62, paddling solo in a 17-pound Olympic-style kayak, crossed the finish line first, about 40 yards ahead of Hassel and Brimeyer, in the day's first flight.

“I should have got there first - a solo kayak is a lot faster craft than a tandem canoe - but it was not easy,” said Dage who fell just short of qualifying for the 1984 and 1988 Olympics.

Dage, who has largely retired from competitive paddle sports, said he passed Hassel and Brimeyer about 1.5 miles into the 9.25-mile course from the Sturgis Ferry Park Access in Iowa City to the Hills Access.

“I could hear them behind me all the way,” said Dage, who stayed just far enough ahead to avoid a sprint to the finish line.

Ted Cramer, 58, and his son, Tommy Cramer, 33, both of Rock Rapids, finished second in the tandem canoe competition, and they placed second and third, respectively, in the solo canoe competition.

Ted Cramer, who had been considered the fastest Iowa paddler for the past 15 years, said he has relinquished the title to his son.

“Until today, I hadn't beaten him since last August,” Ted Cramer said.

Hill, 57, who finished fourth in the solo canoe race, said Hassel excels because of superior strength, conditioning and technique.

“There is something about his stroke that transmits full power to the water,” Hill said.

Hassel said he trains four hours a day, 365 days a year on the Platte River, a shallow, braided stream that has been described with only slight exaggeration as “wet sand.”

Hassel has won the solo canoe title seven years in a row at the U.S. Canoe Marathon Championships, the sport's World Series.

Sixty-eight official registrants competed Saturday.

That total is up from 62 last year and 35 in the inaugural event two years ago, according to Lori Schrodemier, program assistant for Iowa Valley Resource Conservation and Development in Amana, which co-sponsored the race with Fin and Feather outdoor store in Iowa City.