The 5th Missouri River 340 Race from Kansas CIty to St Charles starts tomorrow. The race was postponed by month due to flooding on the Missouri River. The water level is still very high. Late August, shorter days, hopefully cooler than in July, but still full moon. It may be somewhat different than usual.

I am paddling Sea Wind canoe this year. It will be a fully self supported race for me including a shuttle. I will be testing a new option for a shuttle and I will have a chance to see the river three times from a different perspective. I will try to shoot some pictures at least at the start, but it’s quite hazy a day before the race.

I wonder how many paddlers will manage to attend the postponed race.

Related posts from Missouri River 340 Races

120 Pictures from the 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

I supposed to finish packing my boat today and to start driving tomorrow to Kansas City for the 5th Missouri River 340 Race. However, the race has been postponed for a month due flooding conditions on the river. So, instead of packing I went through pictures shot by me and Connie during four years of the race (2006-2009). I selected 120 pictures for the slide show below (it looks better in a full screen mode).

Most of these pictures came from the first race in 2006. Each race I am paddling faster which leaves less time and energy for photography. I used one of my Pentax Optio waterproof camera. In 2008 when I paddled Sea Wind canoe I also took my Canon D40 DSLR to photograph the race start.

Related posts from Missouri River 340 Races

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
Which Boat to Paddle in 2010 MR340 Race?
My 2009 Missouri River Race as Recovered from a GPS Track
Speed: My 2008 Missouri River 340 Race as Recovered from a GPS Track
GPS/photo race log from Missouri River 340
How to Choose a Boat for an Ultra Marathon Race? The Case of Missouri River 340

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

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.

Morgan House, a sprint kayaker, the first US Indoor Kayak Championships, the role of interval training, rest and recovery in paddler’s training cycle by couch Shaun Caven, developments in surfski racing, strength training for racers by Abel Hastings, a preview of the Show-Me-State Canoe and Kayak Marathon, a review of high tech training paddle, Excalibur …

All this and more in the March-April 2010 issue of Canoe and Kayak Racing Magazine.

I have created Northern Colorado Fitness Paddling group on Facebook to coordinate our winter paddling on the South Platte River. I will post incoming events and updates there as well as in a calendar on a sidebar here. Paddlers of all skills and fitness level are welcome to join us.

I haven’t started any regular training on the South Platte River in this year yet. However, following our New Year trip, 22 miles to Fort Morgan, I had a couple of paddling photo session on the river above Kersey.

The river flow is going down, but there is still plenty of water to paddle. I believe that South Platte remains the only open water in northern Colorado.

Some of my paddling pictures can be licensed for personal and commercial or purchased as prints and on some other fancy mechandise at my SmugMug website. You are welcome to check paddling galleries or Colorado Water portfolio.

Yesterday, I exercised Spencer X-treme canoe. That boat felt tippy, especially, with single blade paddle. Did I really manage to paddle 340 miles on the Missouri river in that shell?
Hunting blind at a confluence of Lone Tree Creek with the South Platte. I heard a heavy gun fire further upstream at Mitani-Tokuyasu Wilderness State Area. Perhaps, it would be nicer to switch my paddling sessions from afternoons to mornings.

Related posts:
New Year Paddling – 22 Miles to Fort Morgan on the South Platte River
Starting Winter Paddling and Racing Season on the South Platte River
South Platte River below Denver, Colorado – GPS/photo river guide

Dan Grubbs just released the 6th Issue (January/February 2010) of Canoe and Kayak Racing Magazine. So, it has been already one year. Congratulations!

There is a lot on paddling and virtual racing using ergometers in this winter issue the including incoming US Indoor Kayak Championships in Oklahoma City.

I don’t really have a room of kayak ergometer in my house, so I would have to use it outside … I prefer to drive to the South Platte River for some cold water paddling. Fortunately, the river is still flowing while everything else in northern Colorado is frozen.

You will also find an interview with an outrigger canoe champion, Karel Tresnak, Jr, and more on the ICF women’s canoe program. Rob Bean, my local paddling partner, talks about Passion in the Paddle – how to turn your race into more meaningful experience by using it to raise funds for charity.

Previous issues:
March/April 2009, May/June 2009, July/August 2009, September/October 2009, November/December 2010

340 nonstop miles from Kansas City to St Charles, 88 hour or less, July 27th – 30th, 2009 at full moon – the 5th Missouri River 340 Race.

On-line registration was traditionally opened at midnight January 1. 100 slots available in the men solo class were filled in a day or so. 340 boats will be accepted this year. There is still plenty of room in other classes and a waiting list of male soloists. Dragon Boat/Voyageur Class can accommodate a lot of paddlers. See 2010 Roster.

I have been paddling MR340 and writing about this race for the last fours years. Below you can find a list of my posts, picture galleries and articles by guest authors.

Related posts from Missouri River 340 Races

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

2009 MR-340
My 2009 Missouri River Race as Recovered from a GPS Track
7 Tips for Solo Land Crew in MR340 Race by Connie
Missouri River 340 Race Records
2009 Missouri River 340 Race – Before Start
Do I Need GPS for the Missouri River 340 Race?