I was excited for this year’s Race To The Dome. Its one of the last races of the season. Yes, there are a few others, but in the Midwest, this is pushing your luck for decent weather to get a race in for the masses. I’ve participated in most of the large races this year in Missouri. Lots of training for canoeing and specifically for speed. During my training, I’ve learned that canoeing or at least single blade paddling is what works best for my body. Double blade paddling in small doses is fast, but makes my fingers go numb. Late last year, I purchased a Landick II racing canoe. Today, I was going to take it out in my longest race to date on the Missouri River. I didn’t used it much as I found it to be a tipsy boat. Lowering the seat made it a workable boat for me. Now it was time to find out how all of my training was going to be when I only had myself to blame. As an additional bonus, Dana was going to be there paddling his Landick II. I would have somebody else to compare against. I did paddle against him in April and I beat him by a bunch, but that may have had to do with him flipping early in the race.
My boat is on the left and Dana’s boat is on the right. I should also shout out to Danelle (my lovely wife) for being ground crew on this race. I didn’t have to worry about shuttling cars as she took care of all of that good stuff. Anyway, I went to the safety meeting, then promptly put my boat in the water and warmed up doing my best to get comfortable in the boat.
I went a decent ways upstream and floated back for the start. As we got to the start i was looking for Dana as I wanted a great competitive race. Turns out Dana had just put in and was pointed upstream as the race started. He had 29 miles to catch me!
Now is the part where there are not any photos till after the race ends. I guess I wouldn’t be any good at racing if I wasn’t critical of what I’ve done. I felt great through the first half of the race. Mile 16 was my last split under 7:30 (8 mph). After there the splits were 8 plus minutes. By mile 23, I was just about done with the race. I had given my all and my body didn’t have much to return. Somehow I still managed to finish 6 minutes ahead of Dana. Reflecting today on the race and looking up the finish, I had to laugh out loud.The bottom record of the screen shot is Dana’s entry “Hogan’s Waake”. I”m not sure if he planned to finish behind me or I just got lucky!
I learned today that I need a lot more training for this solo canoe racing or to better pace myself. I’m not sure how a longer race would have turned out based on my endurance for this 29 mile race.
At the finish line, I was admiring Dana’s apray skirt that his wife made for his canoe.
To my utter astonishment, Dana offered me to take it home and sew my own copy for my boat. He had used it one time and offered it away. I love this community. I promise I’ll finish soon to return yours back to you Dana.
Also, I should know better than to paddle in shorts with no sun screen. I’m not sure how much effect that had on me towards the end, but I got too much sun during the race. Time to start training for next year, no excuses 🙂
Hogan Haake