Kayak and Canoe Racing on the Missouri River

In the introduction to his book, The Complete Paddler – A Guidebook for Paddling the Missouri River from the Headwaters to St Louis published in 2005, David Miller wrote:

With the exception of a few popular sections, most of the 2,321-mile-long Missouri River remains undiscovered by America’s paddlesport community. Montana’s 149-mile-long Upper Missouri section, which provide the only public access to White Cliffs, is the lone section that sees regular and sometimes heavy paddler traffic. The remainder of the Missouri remains largely ignored. Although a handful of paddlers complete the the entire distance every year, most the Missouri, which is longer in length than the Mississippi, sees scant use. This is unfortunate. For those seeking a self-propelled long distance adventure, the 2,300-plus-mile long Missouri River presents a paddling challenge every bit as daunting as setting out to bike the entire Appalachian Trail.

At some point in the future, the Missouri River will be discovers as an ultimate paddler’s challenge.

I believe that this is happening already. I just look at marathon paddling races organized this year on the Missouri River. You can cover almost a quarter of the river length by running three races.

Here is a list of kayak and canoe races on the Missouri River and some of its immediate tributaries:

May 22, 2010
GAS60 – Gasconade River Canoe and Kayak Race
60 miles from Jerome, MO to Pointer’s Creek Access

May 28-30, 2010
South Dakota Kayak Challenge
72 Miles from Yankton, SD to Chris Larson Park, Sioux City, IA (36 hours time limit)

June 12-13, 2010 canceled
Missouri Breaks 150
150 miles from Fort Benton to Kipp Recreation Area (Wild & Scenic Upper Missouri River) in two stages (90 and 60 miles)

July 3, 2010
Gritty Fitty
50 miles from Lawrence, KS to Kansas City (Kaw Point where MR340 starts)

July 27-30, 2010
Missouri River 340
340 miles from Kansas City, KS to St Charles, MO (nonstop, 88 hour time limit, 5th annual race)

September 4 & 5, 2010
Race for the Rivers
65 miles from Washington, MO to St Charles, MO (day 1) and from St Charles to Columbia Bottoms (day 2)
also Clean Water Challenge – 20 miles from Weldon Springs, MO to St Charles

October ??, 2010
Kaw-lloween Classic
35 miles from Lawrence, KS to Edwardsville

These are just races I am aware of. Please let me know if I should include some other events. I cannot find any online information on Annual Montana Cup (14 miles race on Missouri River between Helena and Great Falls, MT).

It looks like I have from 9 to 10 hours of driving from northern Colorado to the start of any race on the Missouri. Nevertheless, it would be a great way to explore the river by paddling more than one race on the Missouri this year, ideally, South Dakota Kayak Challenge, then, Missouri Breaks 150, and, finally, MR340.