The VUCC A team of Dean Ford, Jo Dovey and James Coubrough won the shield back to back after a definitive win in the 2008 Hutt Gorge Race of 1 hour 7 minutes. Congratulations to VUCC A!
The river level was very low. Full results are in the table below. Although there was no Ruahine team this year we still had 6 teams - a great turnout with 3 teams from VUCC, 2 teams from HVCC and a Fergs team.
| Team | Place | Time | Team Members |
| VUCC A | 1 | 1:06:58 | Dean, James, Jo |
| HUTT A | 2 | 1:15:55 | Lea, Rich, Ian |
| FERGS | 3 | 1:17:06 | Dave, Jamie, Gary |
| HUTT B | 4 | 1:19:19 | Eaon, Kei, Alan |
| VUCC B | 5 | 1:24:59 | Garth, Dave, Dave |
| VUCC C | 6 | 1:46:25 | Amber, Phil, Christina |
We had a great turnout of helpers including Ralph, Anne and Tony on time keeping duties, Paul on photo shoot(see here), Lucy on shuttle plus Brian, Grant and Neil on safety at the log drop plus Peter and Kathie doing sweep. Thanks also to Lucy for lending us her long boat fleet! Afterwards, Ian did a great job cooking sausages before heading out for a run. Thanks also to Phil for making sure the BBQ was all go.
After the handover of the shield, Tony provided momentary entertainment when he reversed into the lamp post.
James suggested early October for the 2009 race as there is a much greater chance of a better flow. This sounds like a good strategy.
Thanks to everyone for making it a successful day.
