6th Annual Missouri River Race – MR340 2011

gallery, MR340 / By Marek

160 paddlers in 118 boats started yesterday the 6th Annual Missouri River Race 340. The race was postponed this due to flooding from the original date in July to October.

The MR340 is an endurance paddling race across the state of Missouri – 340 miles nonstop from Kansas City to St Charles with 88 hours time limit. I paddled in the first five races using 4 different boats, but always solo. Unfortunately, I couldn’t travel to Missouri this year in October. Last year, the race was also delayed because of flooding, but only by 1 month.

Well, I am paddling my local lakes in northern Colorado and I already started my countdown to the 2012 MR340.

Questions about Paddling Missouri River 340 Race Solo and Self Supported

2 Comments / gallery, MR340 / By Marek

One of the readers of my blog, who is planning to paddle 2011 Missouri River 340 race solo and self supported, sent me some questions:

1. Was the self shuttle as easy as you made it sound or was there some difficulties?
2. I suppose you carried enough food and drink to get you through? Or buy at checkpoints?
3. Did you sleep much during the race? On shore or in boat?
4. This would be my first time event of any kind in kayaking. I will be turning 50 next year and have my sights set on doing this. Are there any extra challenges for the 40+ years set to be aware of?

I paddled the MR340 race five times always solo. I was self supported in 2008, but had a shuttle, and in 2010 I was fully self supported including a shuttle. In both these races I paddled my Sea Wind canoe. I will try to answer the above question in the following posts. Let’s start from the first two.

Self shuttle

My self shuttle with Amtrak worked exactly as I described in my previous post. I believe that a key in this operation was to plan enough resting time in a local hotel at St Charles before doing the shuttle.

Of course, it would be nice to perform the entire shuttle operation before the race. I would prefer to spend Friday at a race finish instead of riding a train and driving a car. However, I have a long drive (~10 hours) from Colorado to Kansas City and prefer to spend at least a day to get adjusted to Missouri climate instead of driving between Kansas City and St Charles.

Self Shuttle by Amtrak during Missouri River 340 Race

3 Comments / gallery, MR340 / By Marek

I run the 2010 Missouri River Race fully self supported including a shuttle. I finished the race as planned below 60 hours and, following day, I took Amtrak (Missouri River Runner) from St Louis to Kansas City. I could still see some canoes paddling downstream of Hermann. The entire shuttle operation went pretty smoothly. Here is a time line of my race and shuttle.
Sunday, August 22, 23:00
Arriving to Hilton Garden Inn at Kansas City after 10+ hour drive from Fort Collins, Colorado. I am always trying different routes to Kansas City. This time I drove through Nebraska.

Monday, August 23, 16:00
Leaving my empty Sea Wind canoe at Kaw Point.

Tuesday, August 24, 6:00
Loading my boat at a very tip of the Kaw Point

Tuesday, August 24, 6:40
Driving back to the hotel, leaving my car in a parking lot in front of it, walking to the Kaw Point,

Tuesday, August 24, 7:30
Launching the boat, shooting the race start.
… paddling, paddling, paddling …

Wednesday, August 25, 03:33-05:10
Glasgow
… paddling, paddling, paddling …

12 Pictures from 2008 Missouri River 340 Race

gallery, MR340 / By Marek

I was paddling 2008 Missouri River 340 Race basically self supported. My wife, Connie, drove with me to Missouri, but showed up on the river only three times including the race start at Kaw Point, Coopers Landing and the race finish at St Charles. Nevertheless, she shot some nice pictures, mostly people oriented.