by Dickie O’Reilly
Roughly 10 years ago, half a dozen former competitive surfers started looking for new ways to challenge themselves when the waves are junk. Hermosan Matt Walls led the group. He’d already completed a couple of marathons, an Ironman, and the Catalina Classic Paddleboard Race.
The group started running. First came the LA Marathon, then the Catalina Marathon and a number of shorter races. But with their long, baggy, board shorts and surf T-shirts, the group didn’t fit in with the running crowd. And they never took running too seriously, in spite of the fact that one of the donkeys, Craig Schneider, actually won the Catalina Trail Challenge for the best combined Marathon and Half Marathon time. One member of the group Jeff Cutler started referring to himself and the runners as the “runner dorks”.
After the marathons, the talk of what’s next shifted to the Catalina Classic Paddleboard Race. Any South Bay surfer will tell you that paddling the Catalina Classic is a rite of passage. Walls had done it three times and considered himself done with the torture. But the group informed him he was the official coach. The training was light hearted and the paddling banter and emails to coordinate the practices were absurd. Cutler rechristened the Runner Dorks the Paddle Donkeys because there was so much jackass behavior.
Over the next few years, the Donkeys grew from the original six guys to an email list of nearly 100. Coach Walls helped countless first timers cross the Catalina Channel and countless others push themselves through their personal mental and physical limits.
The original group (Matt Walls, Craig Schneider, Dickie OReilly, Jeff Cutler, Doug Weems and Ron Roebuck) continue to paddle the Classic each year and some are still running the Catalina Marathon. But it’s the rookies who show up in Wall’s backyard on 16th Street in March or April every year, (depending on when the surf goes bad) who provide a good chunk of the motivation.
It’s the same story as in any other sport. The veteran Donkeys hope that experience puts them ahead of the rookies at the finish line. But this year’s winner Adam Buckley also won the race in 2010, his rookie year. Daley Meistrell was a rookie this year and had he not had to battle some digestive issues during the race, would have been close to some of the faster veterans. Donkeys Dave Berzniak, Steve Compas, and Jamie Meistrell, were also first timers this year and posted very respectable crossing times, thanks to coach Walls’, and assistant coach Weem’s selfless training help.
To be a Donkey you must be dedicated. Starting a 20-plus-mile paddle in the cold and dark doesn’t make for a relaxing Sunday morning. And you must be willing to help others with similar dedication. Coach Walls offers his home, his equipment, his knowledge and so much of his time to new guys and old guys every year. In return, he demands they train sufficiently for a successful race. If you’re slacking or not showing the sport the respect he expects he can be the hard-ass.
There’s a lot of pride when a Donkey wins the race but there’s an almost equal amount of pride in the sheer number of Donkey’s who complete the race each year. No group has had more Catalina Classic finishes.
The jackass behavior continues and gets both funnier and more poignant by the year. The emails are more absurd and offensive than ever. There are people who have asked to be a part of the Donkey email list on Monday only to plead to be taken off the list by Wednesday. And there are guys (and girls) who joined the list with the intention of paddling years, and though they never raced, have asked to stay on the list.
The Donkeys have inspired other paddling groups, including the Mermaids, out of Redondo, who had six paddlers in this year’s Classic, and the Stingrays (actually, I’m not sure who these guys are). But the Donkeys are the original South Bay paddling group.
With this year’s Classic behind us, Donkey emails asking What’s next are already circulating. DZ
