Related posts from Missouri River 340 Races

A report and pictures by Jeremy Rodgers, Boulder, CO.

Only days after returning to Boulder from World Championships in Sort, Spain, I found myself sitting at Denver International airport yet again waiting for my flight to the Yukon Territory Canada busily checking flow gauges and gathering last minute information on the wilderness that waits.

Just when one thinks you have been dealt an average hand, all variables go in your favor and the impossible happens as the human spirit triumphs against all odds. Not 24 hours after I sent an email out to family and friends on my blog acknowledging the lack of adequate flows for a world record attempt on the 24 distance record, American wildwater paddler Andy Corra, from Durango, Colorado, overtook the current world record of 261 miles by paddling 273.5 miles (awaiting certification by Guinness World Records) in 24 hours.

The current official record is held by Aussie American adventure racing legend Ian Adamson. While flows were average at best compared to previous record attempts by others, Andy’s paddling and river reading skills, as well as tolerance of sitting in a kayak for 24 hours, were matched with eerily calm skies and the sheer hunger for what was one man’s first chance to attempt this life long goal.

Andy’s attempt was supported by myself in a second surf ski and 2 local guides in a flat skiff motor boat.

Yucca flowers in front of my Fort Collins house remind me that it is time for Texas Water Safari. This 260 mile nonstop paddling race from San Marcos to Seadrift start every year on the second Saturday of June.

Texas Water Safari was my first racing experience and still remains the most important one. We went to Texas to observe the 2001 Safari, then I finished three races solo: 2002, 2003, and 2005. I couldn’t attend the race postponed due to flooding in 2004. Connie was my Team Captain. It appears that she really didn’t like that job after all (what a surprise …), but she wrote some good tips for team captains and support crew.

My TWS reports and pictures are still available at Mountain Wayfarer (some links may be broken). I gathered most of these pictures (165) into a slide show below. The far left button in a toolbar opens a gallery page with four picture albums.

This year I am returning back to Texas Water Safari, not in a boat, unfortunately. I am flying to Texas with my camera, so more pictures will be available soon.

Related posts:
My Experience in Three Famous Ultra Marathon Paddling Races

68 days to the 2010 Missouri River 340 Race and I am still not decided which boat to paddle. In the first four MR340 races I paddled four different solo boats:
2006 – Spencer X-treme canoe (mostly double blade)
2007 – WSBS Thunderbolt-X kayak (double blade)
2008 – Kruger Sea Wind canoe (single blade)
2009 – Surfrigger outrigger canoe (single blade)

Well, I don’t have a new boat for this year race. It also seems that I need to add a new criterium to my boat selection ranking: which boat (or rather paddle) hurts less my shoulder, wrist, elbow, etc. This year the elbow provides a challenge.

Recently, I was mostly paddling the Thunderbolt kayak. It is because I am lazy and this boat is the easiest and quickest one to upload on my car roof. 116 miles on the North Platte River in Wyoming with Sea Wind this incoming weekend will provide some additional data to think (and feel) about. The worst scenario: replacing a paddle by a camera.

Related posts:
2010 Missouri River 340 Race
3 Years of the Missouri River 340 Race series:
Bryan Hopkins, West Hansen, Christina Glauner, Chuck and Di McHenry, Katie Pfefferkorn
My Experience in Three Famous Ultra Marathon Paddling Races

For the last three years Jerry Nyre from Canoe Colorado organized and sponsored (including cash prizes!) this great marathon race on the North Platte River during Memorial Day weekends. The race started at Hot Springs in Saratoga and run 44 miles down the river across a quite remote area to Fort Steele (I-80 boat ramp). It was usually high and fast water and, typically, some headwind closer to the finish.

Thank you Jerry! I had a good racing and spent together with Connie and our dogs three wonderful weekends in Saratoga.

Unfortunately, the Wyoming Outback Challenge will not by organized any more. The organizers were obviously disappointed by a poor participation. Here is what Eric Nyre wrote at Canoe Colorado forum this year as an explanation:

Last year was the last year of the race.
Local racers weren’t interested.
Racers from other parts of the country wanted free loaner boats/ transportation.
We gave it 3 years, and the crowd kept getting smaller. So no mas, we’re paddling the White instead.

I don’t think that Eric is the best person to comment on that event since during these three years he never showed up at the race neither as an organizer nor as a racer.