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.

 Loading ...

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.

 Loading ...

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!

It is Friday and I know everyone is ready to ride this weekend, so with no further delay…gold.

Hey guys,

for more info on the New Haven Ledges, as well as a short story featured in AW by yours truly.

Toasty Gold

New Haaaavvvvveeeennnn

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

Darin McQuoid

As requested, early season Dinkey Creek golden strokes.

Oh yes very Gold Darin, Gold with Envy we are!

Drew Au

Golden Kid Cool

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh golden

Drive a spike in that gold

Gold for Breakfast Anyone? Taylor Feargoldenton

This in from Alex.

Alex Knupp Birthday Gold at Tanners Boof on the Tallulah!
First release of 2010.
Photo taken by Chase Fredrick.

Later
Alex Knupp

Daboofdengold

Hey Guys,

Kelsey Thompson

Great shot Kelsey!, that is some high power golden flurry of goodness. Good weekend to everyone!

That paddle has golden strungth!

We like video here at LVM so let’s start off with a golden submission by Mark Zakutansky.

Hey hey!!! Up here in the Poconos of Pennsylvania… the land of the Delaware Water Gap (Raymonskill and Hornbecks) and steep creeking galore… we have an EPIC spring with the entire month of March showing good flows all across the board.

Mark Z.

3/14/2010 Lehigh Tributary

Next up is Mark Taylor…

Hey guys,

Mark

The snake and the raven.

Duane...keep those arms in.

pretty pretty pretty

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

The Green Race is fun!

Finally a female entry! Looking good Nikki, but next time send an image that is at least 500 pixels wide.

Amos Ivey took this picture of me last summer boofing the middle line of Rewind on the Watauga. Amos has taken some amazing pictures over the years but this is one of my favorites. You can clearly see the last stroke taken to launch this boof and make a clean landing. I love how the water is falling away from the blade of the paddle and the boat seems to be completely out of the water. Thanks Amos!

-Nikki Malatin

OK that is all the eye candy for today. Check back in tomorrow as Eric Adist throws us some really unique gold!

We’ll start off with a video of super fun, super fly, super when it’s not dry, Overflow Creek Georgia.

Hey LVM Fam! I couldn’t remember if there’s been a Golden Hand Paddle Stroke on there yet (I’m sure Keith’s got ‘em stacked up waitin’ to unleash ‘em though) and was lookin’ over some footage. This was from yet another fun filled day on the Georgia gem Overflow Creek. Here’s a little background to set up the clip. I’m usually a hand paddler when it comes to Class V, because my roll with a stick can be flakey under pressure. Well on this day I talked my buddy Greg Watson into droppin’ his paddle and hand paddlin’ with me. I ran Marginal Monster way better than I did my first time (melted down-super deep), but did not strike Gold like Watson did. Here ya go!

Here is a fine set of photos sent in by the ever talented Rob Hurst.

Heres a shot of Jeff Snyder getting golden on his feet off of Ohiopyle Falls during the Over the Falls Festival.

Rob

The elusive stand-up golden stroke.

Mike Moore at Iron Ring being innovative

Evan Ross getting very golden on the Embudo

The extremely elusive triple stroke. First boater is Raphael Theibaut (sp?) and the last boater i think is Shane Benedict. Not sure of the middle boater. This is from the 06 Green Race. Back when there were only two greenboats in existence.

Hola LVM,

Hello, I hope this email finds you all well. I have dug through this season’s strokes and I believe there may be one or two worthy of the nomination for GOLDEN STROKE (angels singing AHHHHHHHHHHH).

Sunshines in the Gold of the moment

These shots were taken by Mike Thurber of Zak Sears. The first is on the Rio Fuy in Chile during some 2009 Christmas day golden stroking, and the second is on the infamous Rio Palguin. Worthy of gold for sure.

~ Zak

oh yeah

Here we are almost halfway through the month and the photos and video are still coming in. Boom right back into the gold from Michael Toth.

LVM,

photo by McSwain

Spray the butter!

I’m still on the couch after a shoulder dislocation, so with no kayaking in sight for the moment, this seemed like the next best thing.

Nick Ianniello

goldy licious!

golden gooy licious

googoldenlosh

Hey Guys! I want to submit a few shots into the contest. The first shot is of me running the bottom slide of Toxaway Falls this spring and was taken by Jae Ellison. The second two were taken by Caylin Edwards on the Rio Alseseca back in February on a Girls at Play trip. They were taken the same day Will, Dooley, Eli and the boys at Esprit were shooting footage for the Canoe Movie. Good times, good times!

p.s. Looking forward to the Knoxville Premier tonight.

Toxy Gold

Mexican Gold

Mo Mexi'

And our final entry for the day is from the always golden Charlie Mix.

here’s some more golden stroking. I need that paddle, I’m using an old whittled down werner that held together with duct tape!!!

thanks,
Charlie Mix

Yell Goooooolllllddddd!

Oh yeah this is a sick photo

geeeoheldee

OK we are working our way through the month and it has been oh so golden. Let’s get into it!

Here are some golden squirt boat strokes. After all a good mystery move is golden. These shots are from cowbell, the cartecay, and nantahala rivers.

roy srymanske

Our first 'squirt' golden stroke entry

going down

taking a big breath...

not sure what is going on here

My brother, Josh Dalton, took this one during a road trip as we passed through Idaho. The falls is Lower Mesa just outside of Yellowstone.

-Matt Dalton

Golden Stroking and wishing we could kayak in Yellowstone!

Here is a little Spring Break action from Max Posner and company. This one includes a video which is better than most LVM’s! Great entry Max and more power to you and the fist pump.

Hey LVM,
Writing to submit some golden strokes from spring break a few weeks back. In order they are; me on the 2nd drop at Triple Falls (photo by Eric Mahan) me on the 3rd drop at Triple Falls (photo by Eric Mahan) Hunter Davis boofing on the Lower Rocky Broad (photo by Eric Mahan) Mark Taylor freewheeling Stateline (photo by me) and Eric Mahan boofing Stateline (photo by me) To see it all in moving picture format here is a link to the video: http://www.vimeo.com/10707387

Max Posner

Gold at Dupont

bouncing down the gold

a beauty boof

Wheeling Stateline

da boof

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