In a rare show of bipartisanship the judges agreed with the audience voting. Without further a due lets get going with our matchups.

MATCH UP 1
Starting off we have a video match between a trip report on The Tallulah produced by Matt Porter vs. Trash Can Falls by Dave ‘Gorbachev’.

the steady rhythmic pulse of wood against metal is the soundtrack for a study on friendships and movement in a classic southeastern gorge

MATCH UP 2
Next up it is Candice Sanders going head to head with Wesley Bradley.

Green Queen Gold Ohy Myey

Nice LVM sticker Wesley!!!

MATCH UP 3
Our next match up is an oozing Gold shot by Ryan Zimmy of Andy Lichtenheld in Minnesota vs the fabulous Suck Creek shot of Ryan Snodgrass.

oozing gold!

Suck, Sucky, Sucks so good. Chattanooga staple Suck Creek

MATCH UP 4
The final round of the day features a Joey Jarrel shot vs. a photo by Mark Taylor of of unknown paddler going left at Sunshine on The Green River N.C.

Oh yeah this is a sick photo

Haven't seen this angle before...nice!

OK Voting is available below and tomorrow we will be down to the final four! Thanks everyone and good luck.

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First let us say it was a real pleasure to see all the gold being laid down on rivers around the world. Thanks to everyone who submitted a photo or a video! It was no easy feat narrowing the field down to 16, but after much arguing around the office it is done. Each of the 4 judges will vote and and the audience will count as one vote totaling 5 votes. Make sure to click on each picture to view it on a larger scale, and we will narrow it down showdown style until we have a winner. Now aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh, gold!

Round 1
We’ll start off with crowd favorite Wesley Bradley on The Watauga shot by Matt Dalton vs. Matthew Duke on The West Prong shot by Chris Gallaway.

Matt g-stroking!

Nice LVM sticker Wesley!!!

Round 2
Next up we have a video showdown between Dave ‘Gorbachev’ and Max Posner

Traveling over spring break for 8 days of paddling in Nelson County, VA, western NC and Beckley, WV.

Round 3
A couple of heavyweights going at it: A submission by Ryan Zimmy of unknown paddler in Minnesota against a Tom Janney on East Fork of The Kaweah

oozing gold!

Kaweeeeaaaaaahhhhh!

Round 4
Ryan Snodgrass on Suck Creek vs. a shot by Darrin McQuoid of Stephen Wright on Upper Middle Consumes.

Suck, Sucky, Sucks so good. Chattanooga staple Suck Creek

Stephen Wright Golden Stroke

Round 5
A duel between Mike McKay shot by Ray Canton on the Mastigouche in QC vs. Charlie Mix on The Raven’s Fork shot by Joey Jarrell.

shine

Oh yeah this is a sick photo

Round 6
Another video showdown…yes we love video. Here we have a video of squriting sent in by Weaver vs. a trip report on The Tallulah produced by Matt Porter.

2130cfs @ three lynx

first probe…
http://www.sinkspots.org/index.php?spot_id=265

the steady rhythmic pulse of wood against metal is the soundtrack for a study on friendships and movement in a classic southeastern gorge

Round 7
Now we have a couple of interesting angles. The first sent in by Eric Adst of Chris Morelli on The Beaver River in N.Y. vs. a photo by Mark Taylor of of unknown paddler going left at Sunshine on The Green River N.C.

Rad, What's he looking at, beautiful, odd, golden for sure

Haven't seen this angle before...nice!

Round 8

Finally we have two more powerful photos going head to head. First sent in by Ryan Allen and shot by Nick Murphy some crazy subterranean kayaking vs. a Candice Sanders shot of Adriene Levknecht on the mighty Raven’s Fork River.

ohhh yes, golden nastyness, aaahhhhhhh

Green Queen Gold Ohy Myey

OK there you have it. We had so many great photos, over 200, that the task has been impossible picking the best ones from each photographer. We tried to create some interesting match ups so give them all a good look. Props again to everyone out there making the magic happen on the river. Place your vote below, good luck and check back in tomorrow as we continue to narrow it down.

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OK this is it for Gold dumps. Thanks to everyone who submitted and the showdown begins tomorrow!

Hey guys,
So I couldn’t let this contest end with out sending some pics in from the great mank state of Colorado. First up is extreme tuber Rolf Kelly on the black canyon’s waterfall before the fun mile long portage. Next up is sensei Stafford showing all of us how to style cool world on the classic colorado wilderness run, the big south. The 3rd pic is another shot of Rolf Kelly on the best boof on the front range on upper south boulder creek. The last pic is of the huckin duckie Joe keck huckin his meat off of escalante falls on escalante creek, some good early season mud runoff.
Enjoy!
-Tom Janney

Black Gold, Canyon Gold that is.

Sensi Gold

Boof da Mank in a kayak or tube.

Huck the golden duck.

LVM,

Peace,
Tim Madison
PS-photos by C. Tortorige

Borrowed Gold

We may have a winner....Gold.

Yo LVM-

CrossBow- Photographer Unknown
Morgan2&4- Kirk Eddleman
Kick Your Dog- John Trembley

Crossbow Gold

MorganGoldenStein

MorganGoldenExemplify

Kick kick kick gold gold gold dog dog your your.

Yeah LVM, some Goldies from a few years back:

John Fuller

Embrace dat Gold

Elk? Antelope? Goat? no it's The Moose!

Dear LVM,

Sincerely,
jcass
Team Kayakpsych

gggooollldd

Cow sluicey goldy smoldy

au

jcassgoldyliscious

jcassmygoldenass

jcasssassafrassgoldenass

Turkey Season Gold

Mysterious Gold

LVM Crew-

Jon Crain

Dillow Gold

A Handsome Man on The Toilet

Golden Random Goldy

You know what its all about. Chillin on the home river with the boys, summertime, running the shit!! photo: ryan bednar—-paddler: chris houston

Thanks,
chris houston

C1 Gold

Way to pick up the second blade Chris

Kreykes, Daniel
show details Apr 20 (6 days ago)
Hey guys, I’ve got some Golden Strokes for you. The first one is Jay Wolfe strokin’ into the hole at Oceana. The second one is me on Baby Falls, and the third is Graham Jones blasting through the second wave at Corkscrew on the Chattooga Sec.4

Oceana Gold

Baby Gold

Ahhhhhhh Gold

LVM,

Here are a few shots for the golden stroke contest your welcome to put up on the site.

- Clay Lucas

A little bright but ehhh

Ah yes the Gold

Goldenbrightness

Ahhh likey this one

Golden

gauld

Crossbow da gold

Attached are my submissions for the Golden Stroke contest. Enjoy!!!!

John Wallace

Bigge Smalls Gold

Drag Strip Gold

The Juice

Green is Gold, Jerry's Baddle is Fun

Oh yes wooden Gold!

Here is one mo’ bit o’ gold I found, enjoy!

Max

Arrgghhhh Goooolllddd

John,
Clearly there is only one place for a Gold Rush, and thats Cali. Without further ado:
1) Darin McQuoid caught in the golden rays of fall sun, entry drop SF Feather.
2) Culley Thomas bring home the bullion on the 2nd descent of upper upper Mono Creek.
3) Tim Carlton showing 24 carat form, Hospital Rock, MF Kaweah.
4) Macy Burnham firing the gold standard for boofs, Triple Drop, EF Kaweah
5) Eric Giddens still looking for a gold medal, Unknown Soldier, Cherry Creek race.
6) Ryan Moore planting the gilded blade, Ash Mountain, MF Kaweah.

See you out West suckas!
-Ian

This is Cali Gold

Oh oh oh the gold

Hospital Gold

Cali has some Gold

East Fork of The Kaweahgolda

Very hairy Cherry

Ash gold

Hey guys,
The first photo here is of Eric Chance taking one hell of a Golden Stroke at a not so famous rapid. The next shot is of Rob Lienes getting very golden at another not so famous rapid. Last is Katie Worley getting here gold at the top of Ampitheater on the not so famous Tallulah Gorge.

Thanks,
Belly Millowski

Taking the Golden Chance

Gold

My golden lady boofenem

John – hope it’s not too late to submit. I found this in the archives: Freddy, UCC. Pure.
Caleb Coaplen

Fred and The Golden Stroke

golden stroke last day entry it’s only 11:25
This is shot by Candace Sanders….it is Adriene on the Mike T’s Raven Fork. It is quite brown & gold!
Later boyz Evan

Green Queen Gold Ohy Myey

OK that is it for Golden Stroke Submissions. Actually Kirk Eddleman sent in about a terabyte of goldies but he won the Werner contest last year and we had to disqualify him for the glutinous submission. Thanks to everyone for the images and video and we will start the showdown Wednesday Morning. Good luck everyone!

We were set back a day with a direct assault on The LVM website. After about 15 hours of work we are back online. Get ready for a giant golden dump today, here we go!

here is some gold that i found at Goshen Pass. the first shot is some oc-1 gold via Deven Lively. shot 2 is Gordon Dalton digging for some gold. the third shot is Croy harvesting a boof after planting some gold. the final shot is the King going for the elusive golden mirage. Enjoy the gold.
Josh Mays

All we can say is...canoemovie.com

Boofy

More Boofy

Long Pointy Boat Boofy....Gold!

Hey guys,

Here’s my submission for the April Golden Stroke contest. The photos are from the Over the Falls Festival at Ohiopyle in 2009 taken by Nicole Kruse. At the time, the biggest vertical drop that I’d run was about 6 feet, so Ohiopyle was stepping it up for me. Up first is me getting ready to go gold, then enjoying the ride. Check out the LVM sticker in front of the Pyranha logo – that should be good for something, right!!!

Cheers!

Brandon Nutter

Nutty Gold

oh what a feeling tonights going to be a good good niiigghhtt, tonights..

Dear LVM, I have been enjoying all the photos folks have been sending in and thought i might as well get into it. I do need a new paddle after all and after perusing some of my photos, I figured I had a decent shot. there are four photos attatched and since i have no idea which order they will appear in I will just describe them. maybe ya’ll can put them in the proper order.

4. And the last photo… well they can’t all be Golden Strokes, can they? (photo: Courtney Leigh Johnson)

Crain Gold Indeed!

Be Gold Buddha, Be Gold

Love The Golden Grass in This Shot.

Poopy Foot Fungi Anti-Gold

Hey LVM,

-Matt p.

Jah Monk

What’s up. Here is a shot of Greg Hanlon on the Ellis at high water. New Hampshire’s got it going on in April. Adam Herzog

Ahhh The Gold up North...we miss you down here Zog!

Hi – here are some strokes of gold, taken just for LVM.

Steve Arns

We likey goldy

Making the magic happen

A golden Gorge Indeed

Whattup LVM!

Alex Clayden

Deliberate Gold

What a Golden Fuzzy Little Bunny!

To answer your question Alex...we will be seeing you in CO, nice shots thanks!

Hey, here are some goldies from VA.

TrevarB

Oh Don the Gold

Golden VA

Oh Harris oh y oh Harris...AU

That is what we call creekin...trees, rocks, color, GOLD!

1st Playboating some no name rapid in NC
2nd Mac on 1st drop OBJ
3rd 3rd slide Wffb
4th 1st D Raft Big South Double Trouble

Jacob Black

Rodeo Lives!

Boof Dat ShGoldit

You gotta be golden kidding us...yeaaaaahhhh!

Rafts are Gold...?

Dear Golden Stroke Overlord,

T. Brandt

You are my sunshine my only sunshine you make me happy when Gold

Golden ouchy...be careful young Jedi

here we got.. some double Linville Double Gold. Paddlers David Clarke, Alex Hymen, and Eric the Chancellor.
then William Lyons Krushin’ Dreams in CO. Will Stubblefield

This one is so Gold

Big Boulders

Is this Will Lyons the Canoe Guy????Traitor

OK That is it for now we will have more gold this afternoon and over the weekend…then Monday the showdown begins. Thanks everyone and enjoy your weekend!

One of the beautiful things about canoeing is you become an expert in self rescue. This is a prime example. THE CANOE MOVIE

Holy Cow, it’s true, one more golden stroke. However, this man doesn’t need some fancy schmancy paddle to get it done, half the blades will work just fine for him. Jeremy Laucks freewheeling his Blackfly on the Tellico. See it all at The Canoe Movie.

OK submissions for the Werner Golden Strokes Contest are over. Feel free to continue to send in those golden moments throughout the season as we love to see them, but this years contest has capped it’s submissions.

Now we will perform a golden dump the next few days and put up all the photos and video. Then next week we will go live with online voting/judge in a head to head battle of the sweet 16 photos and vids. Essentially we will put the entries in a bracket tourney format and through single elimination battle it out until we find a champ. Good luck everyone and now, gold.

What up LVM!

Ryan DeKay

Let the gold shine down.

Hi LVM,

Dave Prothero

Gordon Gold

Au

auriforgoldelicious

gold indeed

Golden Stairs

Hey LVM,
Here are a few strokes that made my balls bounce. Thanks for checking them
out.

Jeff West

Golden Bouncing Balls

True Golden Love

Sail Gold

Hey Y’all- Just dumped a bunch of photos off my camera, and thought
I’d send ya a couple “Golden Strokes” from my recent exploits.

Tyler Boeing

Golden Fork of The Third Oldest River in The World

Tyler Gold

Hey,

Taylor Martin

Oh oh some unique gold.

Hey guys,
first picture is me on West Cherry Creek taken by the Taft Sibley. Second photo was taken when I was ball’n as a child. thought it would be a good picture since i had a gold shirt on.

Taylor Martin

No comment

Twice the squirt taken at halls of karma by Jon Shannon. Picture is of Steve O’keefe and I playing in the seams in the eddy. the second picture was Taken of me at Fishing with Ghandi on Tremont last fall. Hands down the best spot in Tennessee. Sorry Cowbell you’re second now.

Taylor Martin

Double yo

GhandiGoldenGooyGoodness

And finally for the day a combo entry of video and photos by former Russian President Dave Gorbachev.

Hey LVM,

p.s. real last name is (Ledford). I just made the Gorbachev thing up for yahoo. thanks guys

au

gold puncher

g-o-l-d

Josh Wall, Mark Taylor, and Dave Ledford make a spring trip up to the Raven’s Fork in Cherokee, NC.

Today is the last day for submissions…get to work. Now gold.
First we have a golden shower submitted by Ryan Allen.

Here is a old photo of my golden stroke taken by Brent Meadows (photo 103)
and also a newer photo of a subterrainian gc photo taken by Nick Murphy

RA

very nice

ohhh yes, golden nastyness, aaahhhhhhh

one more of Jeremy Pou golden stroking this first D.

You may say why has noone run this little 8′ drop before? It is due to most of the water then drops 25′ into an underground jumble of rocks with only a sliver of water leading into the next drop ( which has been run) that goes into a sweet boof to slide.

gold gold gold gold gold

Now for a little Gold outside of the lower 48.

Here’s a set from a few places I’ve been recently.

Brandon Gonski

g

o

l

d

Next a pile of photos by Mark Taylor. Gold.

I really want to stop having to borrow paddles so I’m gonna just keep sending them your way. First sequence is me dropping Big Boy. Next up is Josh Wall firing through mortal combat. Second sequence is what happens when you catch an edge trying to wheel groove tube. I would call it a golden-brown stroke because you’re like “oh crap but then something cool comes out of a mistake and you don’t eat rocks at the bottom. Not intentional but cool nonetheless. Both photo sequences by Josh Wall and Mortal Combat by me.

Mark

Once again we will finish with a little video. Not sure if this has anything to do with golden stroking, but enjoy none the less. Thanks Weaver for the video and until tomorrow happy 4-20.

Collawash 04-10-2010 from SinkSpots on Vimeo.