Just for fun, and based on the first three races of the year (OHDBC, Milton and Pickering).

I am not perfect, so let the slamming begin


1. Mayfair.

If there was any doubt that this crew is unbeatable, they certainly were laid to rest in Pickering.

2. CSDBC.

The only team that come close to beating Mayfair, and therefore #2.

3. GG Dragons - Sony.

A toss up between them and number 4 - but for now they have they have the slight edge.

4. Hydrophobic Dragons.

A great crew, but not quite there yet.

5. Hanalei.

They did not quite perform as well as they expected to at Pickering, but recovered well from a tough 1st race.

6. Scotia Rouge.

This is where the picks get tough. They could easily slip further back, but are up here by virtue of tough start by such crews as Hammerheads, Big Fish, Piranhas etc...

7. Hammerheads

I have a tough time putting them this high. Inconsistent results at the OHDBC regatta and Pickering, but their seems to be some upside with the light, quick rebuilding crew.

8. PDBC A.

Never quite know what to expect with the PDBC teams, but always have the threat of being awesome.

9. Eat Trout.

You can't discount the years of paddling experience these guys have.

10. Chaos.

Could be the sleeper crew out there. Soundly beat Big Fish and Hammerheads at the OHDBC race, and came within 1 second of the number 2 seed in the 1600m race.

11. Piranhas.

Whaaa happened in Milton? You could be much better, but have heard rumours of a bug turnover.

12. Fairport.

The kids looked good in Pickering. Love the orange paddles. Between #8 - 12 it is so close to call...

13. Big Fish.

The underachieving continues, and are starting to have teams leap frog them. Merging with another underachieving team isn't looking so great right now.

14. GG Dragons - Team Panosonic.

Because you put yourself in the rec division in Pickering, I put you a notch or three below what you could be.

15. Jetstart.

They were the best team in Milton - despite any collisions in the A final. They are still below the Piranhas based partially on how much better the Piranhas were at the end of 2007. If the Milton trend continues look for Jetstart to move up.

16. New College.

Still the best of the University crews, but it is tight between them and UC.

17. The Blades.

Did not look completely out of place in the sport division in Pickering.

18. Mojos.

Would have loved to see how you guys faired in the sport division at Pickering. You were dominant in the rec (save for GG) and are probably a better crew then 16 and 17, but am penalizing you for not playing with the big boys.

19. UC.

yeah - I don't know, but I think you sit right around here.

20. The Saints.

A strong final race at Pickering, saves you here. You have looked rather ordinary so far this year.

Honourable Mention:

Mayfair Warriors
Komodo Dragons
Paddlers Anonymous
GSK
Mofos
BMO
Iron Dragons

Eat trout was pretty diminished in Pickering, they were in split between Trout and G&G, I think when they are all in the boat it will be another story.

when do they race with their full roster intact? Sudbury? Look forward to seeing them when they do.

Probably Parry Sound this weekend.

There's no way the Hammerheads should be 7th overall after coming 8th in Pickering and 9th at the Outer Harbour. How does that even work? The get "soundly beat" by Chaos, but are ranked 3 places ahead of them?

Too much Pickering-bias being shown in the rankings already. Same as every year, the results from Pickering dictate the rankings for the rest of the season.

Wouldn't it make sense to use Pickering as a measuring stick since it is one of the most competitive fields year after year?

"Wouldn't it make sense to use Pickering as a measuring stick since it is one of the most competitive fields year after year?"

It's also one of the worst race courses and it uses a selectively biased inital draw. To me this makes the result the least trustworthy for ranking or timing purposes. The results for comparing the #1-#3 teams seem to indicate a reliable difference, but for anything lower than that (90% of the teams) it's too much a matter of luck of the draw, or the luck of knowing the organizers...

If Pickering is the yardstick....then I'd suggest you revise your rankings.
And, not base your list on what you think or bias

The best teams (MayFair and CSDC) both over came #1 lanes in their first heat. Lanes 1 and 2 sucked but they weren't the swamp of last year.

Don't use Pickering as your baseline this year, use Toronto Island.

The representation of teams is as good or better than Pickering, the course is more even, the boats will be BUK's (for a change) and the lane seeding uses a standard format.

Yes, a few teams are missing, mostly the PDBC based crews like G&G and West Rouge, but there's always a few top teams missing from any regatta. So use TIDBRF as the baseline result and adjust Pickering up or down like all the other regattas.

These Power Rankings are based on the first three events of the year, and with Pickering being the biggest event of the three, OF COURSE THERE IS GOING TO BE A PICKERING BIAS.

Anyways, these are just my subjective rankings, based on both early season performance with some historical context.

The Hammerheads have been fairly inconsistent early in the season, but I am giving them a bit of leeway considering they have been a great crew for the past 5 years.

Yes, Chaos who is three spots below them did beat them soundly at the OHDBC race, but I think the Hammerheads have a little more potential to match up with the elite crews. Not to take away anything from Chaos. The finished up 2007 on a strong note, and have kept it going early on this year. Will be an interesting team to watch.

As I said the rankings are purely subjective, are meant for fun and hopefully will generate more interesting discussions as opposed to the "misogyny vs. feminists" crap we saw for much of last year.

First of all, I'm on neither team. So sorry for bringing you two teams into this, nothing personal.

Chaos has beaten the Hammerheads now in two "consecutive" races: GWN last year and the Outer Harbour Challenge this year. But despite this the Hammers are ranked 7th and Chaos 10th. This is just one example of the Pickering Bias the rankings shows, it's not the only team-by-team example but it's the most glaring so far.

Yes, there have been only 3 regattas this year, but like last year I expect little change in the rankings from here on except for the slotting-in of teams racing in Ottawa and later Montreal. Some teams will get added but mostly teams will continue to appear in the rankings in their finishing order at Pickering.

The problem with Pickering is that despite being a highly flawed race, it's used as the basis for an otherwise good ranking system. But if you start with bad results, and weight them inappropriately, how does this affect the quality of the rankings overall?

Might as well just call them the Pickering Rankings and be done.

I think you have failed to understand my point, and the nature of these rankings. These rankings are completely different then the True Rankings to which I have absolutely no connection to. Power Demon has done a great job making the True Rankings much more objective.

These are Power Rankings, they are subjective, (ie my personal opinion) based upon the early season results, with of course historical context. It looks beyond the pure results, and takes into account the intangiables.

Pickering has been the largest and most recent event so far. So yes you will see a "Pickering Bias".

After Ottawa and Toronto, I will revisit these rankings. If the Hammerheads continue with their inconsistency at the Island and Chaos continues to impress at Ottawa, don't be surprised to see these teams flip.

Yes, Chaos beat the Hammerheads at OHDBC and at GWN last year. However, I still don't think I am ready to say that Chaos is a better crew then the Hammerheads.

I would be more surprised to see Chaos make an A final at a big event then I would the Hammerheads.

These are just for fun, you are taking this way too seriously.

The poster above me is clearly Chaos - Why would you compare a crew based on how they performed in a race LAST season?

Looking at factors...it is interesting to note, that Lane 4 at Pickering did not do
well at all.

Regardless of the first round of heats, the crews - which were supposed to be ranked
came out in the bottom half of the semi or final.

If a crew did well in the final out of lane 1, then they would also have overcome
that lane bias. Mayfair did 2:03 in the morning and then 1:59 in the final from lane 6.

"The poster above me is clearly Chaos - Why would you compare a crew based on how they performed in a race LAST season?"

Why do people say stuff like this? You have no clue what team the person paddles for.

Why 12th for Fairport when they handedly beat Eat Trout in the 2000 and finished 5th overall ahead of Hanalai? And why PDBC A in 8th? **cough**cough**

The answers are in the comments.

I am surprised so many don't understand the concept of power rankings.


8. PDBC A.

Never quite know what to expect with the PDBC teams, but always have the threat of being awesome.

9. Eat Trout.

You can't discount the years of paddling experience these guys have.

12. Fairport.

The kids looked good in Pickering. Love the orange paddles. Between #8 - 12 it is so close to call...

12:36, then compare how they have done on 2008. The results speak for themselves.

After the 350m sprints the two teams were about a second apart, with most of the Hammerhead women paddling in Milton.

I don't think you can say one team is clearly better then the other at this point.

Time to update this now that Toronto Island, Ottawa and Vancouver Festivals are in the books.

Mayfair still reigns supreme or does Events or FCRCC take over 1st?

How about Chiros, Hydros, G&G dropping or not.....will be interesting to see how this season plays out. Definately the most competitive ever.

Nationals: Mayfair, Beasts, FCRCC, Chiros, Verdun, Hydros, CSDC, Hanalei, Big Fish, Wongs, Hammerheads, Piranhas..... God even making the B Final will be tough.

I will update this soon, but Western teams won't be included.

Hard to assess where teams stack relative to each other when there has yet to be any crossover from east to west.

Ask us if we care.

11:31AM does

I think he meant he doesn't care about the west.

That's cause he's from the east.

"I'm the best from the east, I'm a wild and crazy beast, I'm the Vin man!"

Nope, don't care about these rankings, East or West.

To the person who does not care. Thank you for your contribution.