Today we left for my third MR340 river race. Don’t worry, I would never do this solo, I’ve enlisted Hogan and a second couple, Scott and Dot Merritt. If you have been following along, we’ve been doing races together this year preparing for the big race. We packed our trailer with all of our gear and with somebody else’s boat (Hogan is a sucker for helping people). Then we met at the finish line where we would leave our car for the duration of the race. We connected the trailer to JoJo’s van and drove to Scott and Dot’s house nearby. There, we loaded the 26-foot, 4 person canoe that we will race down the river. It was a bit stressful getting all of the supplies in the trailer. How do 6 adults have so much gear for a race? 
JoJo was kind enough to modify her van so we could all make the trip in a single vehicle. With a rear seat installed, we sat 4 across in the support van for the whole drive to KC. While there were 4 seat belts, they seemed better fit for kids as mine dug into my right hip. Otherwise it was an uneventful ride.You can see from the photo below that the inside of the van is full of stuff too.
We drove straight to Kaw Point so we could partially unpack. We unloaded both boats in a strategic place to help us get on the water fast in the morning. We were slightly concerned about the weather and curious people and opted to place the boat upside down. This turned out to be fortunate as there was a rain storm overnight that didn’t fill up our boat. Hogan and the others went about meeting and greeting friends old and new during this process. In fact, we had to find Hogan more than once as he got distracted talking to people when he was supposed to be working on our gear. We left and headed to Hogan’s childhood home. His dad wasn’t home, but had offered us run of the house which is very helpful. We took a late lunch at Outback steakhouse that really hit the spot. Before heading back to the house, we went grocery shopping for dinner. Pasta was on the menu. With supplies set, we went back to relax for the night before our race the following day. We played some pool before dinner – Nancy is a pool shark! Scott and I made the dinner.
Race morning, we got up early to get to the boat ramp. It took 2 loops of the parking before we found a space that would fit the van and trailer. We loaded two folding carts to move all of our gear, but first a quick team photo.
We were rushed at the ramp, so my drink bag was not arranged how I wanted and my food was tossed haphazardly in my basket. The Big Muddy folks had set up wood pallets to the left side of the ramp to aid teams with long boats like ours in getting in without blocking the whole ramp. We carried the boat down the ramp and, when it was our turn, I was at the end that was along the pallets. I walked out and they were wet, muddy, and slippery. I somehow managed to get in without falling, but is felt very risky.
Once on the water, we had about a half hour and arranged our gear in the boat – a fairly simple task for everyone but me, as my legs take up the entire space in the front of the boat, making it very hard to move things in the basket attacked under my seat. But I managed to eventually get settled in. We paddled upstream to the area under the bridge to avoid most of the sprinkling rain. We took advantage of the extra time and put on some sunscreen. We started to go back downstream and there were some carp jumping here and there. Then there were two that jumped over the bow of the boat at the same time, one about 3 feet in front of me and the other about 5 feet away. Dot and Hogan are not particular fans of carp, so it is good they are in the stern, or we may have dropped out of the race then and there!
We continued to work our way to the front on river left as the 8am start approached. As we passed the ramp, Hogan was flabbergasted by the clothing selection of one of the SUP racers. We can only hope he was using plenty of sunscreen!
We had a smooth start with only a few of the fastest paddlers ahead of us and a large field of racers behind. We were most glad to leave behind the odors – I don’t know if it was the wind direction or if the rain the night before had caused a sewer overflow, but the first 2 miles or so of the race were accompanied by very strong smells of sewage!
We spent much of the morning around a small grouping of tandem canoes and kayaks, as well as a 3-person team that was in the same division as us. We would spend a while getting ahead of them, and then during our short breaks at the beginning of each hour, they would catch up again. The 3-person team had a very different paddling strategy than most, with all three of them paddling on the same side, then all switching together. This resulted in a lot of zig-zagging on their part. They didn’t keep up with us much after noon the first day. About the same time, we started passing our first solo paddlers. The race started an hour earlier for solo boats, so it is nice to catch up and have a chance to pick them off one-by-one.
An interesting aspect of the race this year was the barges. We reached the first barge late in the morning, it was moving quickly upstream and leaving a fairly large wake. It was the first time in our many hours on the Missouri River in this boat that a barge wake caused water to come over the front of the boat. There were 4 or 5 different waves that overtopped the bow and splashed into my lap. The worst probably put a couple of gallons into the boat. It was not enough to cause any problems, but enough that we used our sponge to dry us out. The second barge, also before Jefferson City, was not nearly as bad, with smaller waves and no water getting into the boat. Most importantly, I was starting to get a feel for how to paddle in a way that would allow us to crest the first wave and land on top of the second, rather than plowing into the second with the nose of the canoe. This becomes important near the end of the race…
I want to take a moment and just mention how important ground crew is. JoJo and Nancy were following us down the river in the van pulling a trailer. They faithfully showed up at each meeting place approximately 50 miles apart to provide us fresh water, smiles, and warm food. JoJo made lots of food and warmed it up in a pan before we got there!
The river and surrounding lands are a very busy place. This year, not only were there barges using the river as transportation, but there were crop dusters out spraying the agricultural fields. We saw them in three areas of the river, one on Tuesday afternoon and the other two on Wednesday. Thankfully there were trees along the river in the areas where the spraying occurred, offering a small buffer between us and any drifting chemicals. We never actually saw the planes spray, but they were doing their very acrobatic flying to make quick turns to allow them to spray as much of the fields as possible with little over spray into surrounding areas.
Another interesting difference in the race this year compared to my two previous MR340s was the abundance of carp. They were around during the first two, but this year they were more active and jumpy. Dozens of carp made some aggressive movements just below the water surface that created little boils. These were slightly startling, but otherwise not a cause for concern. Our first direct encounter happened while we were paddling along the river bank, trying to take advantage of the small patch of shade to get some relief from the afternoon sun. A carp jumped and hit my paddle, then bounced off the red spray skirt in the middle of the boat and then into Dotty’s chest. Fortunately, it ended up back in the water with no additional impacts. The next carp interaction happened just as we approached Catfish Katy’s. We were no more than 30 feet from the ramp when a large carp jumped into Dotty’s area of the canoe. She screamed and it flopped around in the bottom of the canoe, leaving behind scales and smelly slime. We got to the ramp quickly to allow Dotty to escape the beast! I got out quickly so that I could serve as the carp wrangler since I am typically the only one around who is willing to touch the fish. This time, one of the volunteer helpers at the ramp offered to take on the job and I gratefully accepted – who was I to argue. The final direct contact between carp and our team happened on day 2 at the Mokane ramp. Scott was feeling unwell (more on that later) and the carp must have smelled it in the air. It added insult to injury as it sailed out of the river, smacked him in the forehead, dropped into the canoe, then launched itself back out of the boat. It all happened so fast and we were so tired that we didn’t know how to react. We mostly just shook our heads and got on with things.
As evening approached on the first day, we were holding pretty close to our expected time. The sun set and the water became more mysterious. Since my position was in the front of the canoe, paddling at night was a little more unnerving. While most of my job is to keep a good tempo, the other main task is to watch for obstacles. When the sun goes down, this is obviously a bit more challenging. Fortunately, we had mostly clear skies and a nearly full moon. I kept us from hitting most of the debris, but there were a few branches that I didn’t see until it was too late. Those would clunk against the hull and pass underneath or alongside us.
As the night wore on, we were all getting more and more tired. Scott’s position right behind me was our designated sleep spot, so at around 11pm he took out his seat and settled in for an hour or two of sleep. My turn was second, so I laid down sometime near 1am. While I was down until 2:30, I maybe got 30 minutes of sleep. Part of the difficulty was the movement of the boat. During one of the Creve Coeur Lake practice sessions, we had each spent a couple of minutes laying down. We obviously kept our pfds on to sleep; well, my 3L water bag was stored in a pouch on the back of my pfd. When I laid down, the water was gradually leaking out of the top of my bag. I got soaked! Dotty was next to sleep and seemed to have a bit more luck than I’d had. As morning approached, Hogan was just about done. Around 5am, he was complaining about how tired he was. We found a good place to swap seats, and finally each of us a chance to get sleep while the other three kept the boat moving. I envy Hogan for his ability to sleep anywhere!
As the morning progressed, Scott was having issues. He wasn’t paddling like we’re used to from him. He started talking to Dot about getting picked up and going to urgent care after a shower. We didn’t really understand what was wrong with him. Eventually Dot convinced him that he should just take an ambulance to the hospital. Once he agreed, Dot went into nurse mode (it’s her job) and called EMS describing all of his symptoms, what we were doing, and where to find us. By the time the call to EMS was over, we were about a mile from the Mokane boat ramp where they would meet us. Hogan, Dot, and I put the power down and paddled hard to get there quickly. Scott was just sitting on the bottom of the boat feeling bad. Remember that final carp I mentioned earlier? This is when Scott got hit in the head by the carp.
Hogan went up the ramp to direct EMS down the ramp while we waited with Scott. While they worked on Scott, we had Hogan take a short nap on the concrete ramp. He was already talking about being tired and wanting more sleep (really). I figure he got at least 20 minutes during this time. Dot decided to keep paddling and Scott was off to the Jefferson City hospital to be looked at. Side note, he was admitted for the night with a bowel obstruction!
Without Scott’s power, the boat was not moving as fast. However, he wasn’t paddling much the last 3 hours and the boat felt fast again as we had been paddling his weight as he fought to feel better. Dot and I carried on conversations and occasionally shouted back to see that Hogan was still with us. A 26′ boat feels extra long when a paddler is missing. There were about ten feet between Hogan in the back and Dot in the middle front seat. We passed Herman around 10:30pm. Hogan’s been talking about sea shanties for way too long and Dot called him out. He started to teach us his version of Nathan Evan’s Roll The Old Chariot. It is somewhat repetitive so its easy to learn and he is always playing sea shanties at home, so I somewhat knew it already. He mostly sang and we listened, but we did all sing a little. It was a good break to keep us awake.
Coming into the town of Washington Hogan said he was about to fall out of the boat cause he was tired (are we sensing a theme yet). We pulled over at the Washington, MO ramp for a 90 minute stop. We pulled to boat up the ramp, each found a patch of warm pavement alongside, then cuddled up on the concrete to sleep.
After our brief nap at the ramp, the three of us headed back into the water to finish out the last 40 miles. Hogan thought that we would be unable to finish in under 50 hours, but based on my timeline, I was fairly certain it was still within reach, but just kept it to myself and kept up our pace and my effort. After a while, Hogan did the math in his head and realized that we might still beat the 50 hour time, so he added more power. Then we saw a barge heading upstream towards us – a setup with not one but two tenders. The one nearest us had a normal wake, but the far tender had a triple sized wake, possibly over 10 feet in height, though Hogan remembers it as closer to 8 feet. Either way, that was gonna leave a lot of moving water! The waves were a bit taller than the first barge we had encountered, so I knew we’d be taking on water or even flipping if I didn’t hit the waves right. I paddled hard at each of the waves that was leading into another, larger wave, causing us to land on top of it rather than burying our front into it. I think Dotty and Hogan were a bit apprehensive, but after the first couple of waves, I was invigorated and felt like I was white-water rafting, using my paddle to climb the waves and add air time to our rocking voyage. The wake went on for probably a couple of miles after the barge went by. Once we were through that, all remnants of exhaustion had been replaced by excitement and probably not a small amount of adrenaline. I was ready to blaze our path to the finish!
On the final couple of miles of the journey, we all dug deep to find that last bit of reserves. Dotty was our cheerleader, offering constant encouragement. I was zoned in to putting as much strength behind each stroke as I could muster. We finished the race in 49 hours and 43 minutes! A personal best for all three of us. It was bittersweet finishing without Scott, but an amazing accomplishment! Dotty took a cold bath to celebrate!
We enjoyed a brief celebration at the finish with our ground crew, as well as Corvin, Jackson T, and Bob H. Then I finally slept!
Danelle Haake