fitness paddling: exercise, train, race by kayak & canoe

Well, rather, 52 miles of rain, mud and sorrow. Lawrence, KS to Kansas City, MO. June 30th, 2007.

40+ boats. Rain, rain, rain. Light rain, heavy rain. Some headwind with wind waves. My GPS shows 52 miles after the race. Actually, the rainy weather was not so bad for paddling, just a little messy. Weather started to clear up a little bit later in the afternoon. You can compare the above picture of Kansas City seen from the Kaw Point with a cityscape shot on a night before the 2006 Missouri River 340 Race.

West Hansen won the race in 7:04 hours padlding Huki Sx-1 surfski, the same boat used by Carter Johnson in recent WaterTribe Everglades Challenge and Texas Water Safari. Chuck McHenry in Thundebolt-X came just 3 minutes after West (7:07). I arrived in 3rd position also paddling T-bolt-X in 7:17. Then, after a longer gap other boats started to show up at the Kaw Point.

The race results are available on rivermiles.com web site. As soon as we return back to Colorado I will post some pictures from the race finish.

Related post:

• Incoming Marathon Paddling Races in Kansas and Missouri
• Kansas River Gritty Fitty - Race 50 miles on June 30, 2007 from Lawrence to Kaw Point