This post takes the pressure off of me to write something, for a few hours at least! Thanks to my favorite Musician/Athlete in the whole world (and cousin), ROD PHILLIPS.
Daryl Simon and myself (Rod Phillips) competed in the Missouri River 340, an ultramarathon canoe race, from August 4-6, 2009. The event started on Tuesday, August 4 on the Missouri River at its confluence with the Kaw River in Kansas City, and finished (for us) in St. Charles, about 20 miles upriver of St. Louis on Thursday, August 6 (cutoff was Friday at midnight). We paddled day and night on the Big Muddy, navigating the strong current, wing dikes, hot weather, blistering sun, extreme fatigue, mammoth river barges, and hallucinations along the way. Not to mention a few surly paddlers.
Bryan Crawford, our one-man ground crew was a key component of our team, meeting us at each of the nine checkpoints along the way and keeping us supplied with cold drinks, river food, and moral support, regardless of the time of day or night. We traveled 105 miles on day 1, 118 miles on day 2, and 117 miles on day 3, finishing at 10:30 PM (after a 4:30 AM start at the I-70 Bridge at Jeff City).
The start was delayed the first day (see photo above) due to a raging thunderstorm. Instead of an 8 AM start, we got away at 9:30 AM. The 105 mile first day lasted 14 hours. The first night’s sleep was 2 hours: In at 11:30 PM and back on the river at 1:30 AM. The idea of traveling on the river at night was a big worry for us (OK, just for me), but turned out to be rather serene most of the time, as we had a full moon giving decent light every night. Daryl confessed that he had previously experienced night canoeing and was not concerned.
We competed in the Men’s Tandem category, which had 130 teams registered. There were another 118 solo men, and a few others each in the Solo Woman, Mixed Tandem, and Team (more than 3) categories. For the awards there were no separate age categories or divisions between types of boats—something I hope to politic strongly for with the race organizers. Many of the boats that came in ahead of us were high-tech (and high dollar) carbon fiber racing boats from 24” down to as little as 17” wide (I call them “needle” boats). Our boat, Daryl’s C2 Olympic canoe is 30” wide and 18’ long.
Our Days 2 and 3 were long, hot, and difficult but once we found a rhythm it actually became easier some of the time…On day 1 and day 2 in the afternoon, my energy levels fluctuated and I was very sleepy. Daryl tried to lie down briefly but the current and wind turned us around and I could not keep the boat straight from my bow position. After that, neither of us tried our sleeping “quarters”… we really needed the time off-river.
Our finish time was 61 hours and 1 minute, (43rd out of 253 boats) and of that time we were off the river 11 hours 47 minutes. That finish time put us at the 83rd per centile. (We finished ahead of 7/8ths of the boats.)The fastest paddlers finished in around 38 hours and never got out of their boats—obviously never sleeping, either. However, some of the team boats had a place for sleeping while they were traveling. Daryl and I had arranged our sleeping area and had hoped to just stay on the river the entire way with one person paddling and the other sleeping but it did not work out to be practical… so we slept 2 hours the first night and about 5 hours the second night, with naps and short rests at most of the last 6 checkpoints.
Most of the boats, by our observation, were powered by two-bladed (kayak) paddles. We brought kayak paddles but only used them briefly, opting for Daryls’ 9 oz bent-shaft racing paddles. They seemed to work better for the canoe than the kayak paddles.
Besides consuming around 15 Gatorades and/or water bottles each, Daryl and I ate mostly snacks, including bananas, crackers, almonds and cashews, and power gels and bars. At Jeff City I was having a food crisis and went on a sojourn with Bryan to find Taco Bell.
We had many adventures along the way and decided that we felt successful in just completing the course. Between 1/4th and 1/5th of the boats were DNF (did not finish). In many ways for me the race was harder than I thought—actually “brutal” is the word I have often used to describe it already. The consequences of such extended output of energy (average of 20 hours per day) were extreme fatigue, soreness, boredom, hallucinations, and stomach cramps. I actually “saw” some beautiful Pike swimming in a circle off the port bow, and then for an ongoing hour or so every tree on the river side reflected a building in it, complete with windows, architecture, and Gargoyles. I had to rest soon after that.
The Missouri River 340 is listed as “the world’s longest Continuous Canoe Race” and is the longest canoe race in North America. It is produced every year by the same guy, and is a non-profit venture overseen and ratified by the U.S. Coast Guard. All boats and equipment have to be certified by the Guard.
Some of the notable events were: Being on the river at night with a full moon (and Jupiter), watching wildlife including heron, leaping Asian Carp, honking Canadian Geese, bats and swifts on the river at twilight feasting on bugs, and echoing Hoot Owls. Also, meeting 3 river barges in succession on the morning of Day 2, and getting behind rock dikes to weather the huge wakes. We got very tired of having to paddle around wing dikes, man-made rock piles meant to focus the current and make the riverbed self-scouring. Unfortunately, many of the wing dikes were submerged due to the high river levels and were treacherous to pass over, since they caused turbulence, whirlpools, and standing waves. These were especially dangerous at night.
There were only a handful of participants older than Daryl and myself. Our boat was #6061 which reflected our ages. Our team name was “Ridge Runner Boys” in honor of those of you back home who inspire and challenge us every week, year after year.
Daryl wore shorts and a bike shirt throughout but I opted to be covered head-to-toe in light clothes to keep the sun off. Even though I prepared for the sun, I forgot about sun block on my lips and suffered severe sunburn on my lower lip, which is still painfully sore, peeling, and blistered after 5 days. I also wore full leather batting gloves yet sustained some blisters on both hands. Daryl, being a working man, had no blisters.
Even though we had planned to attend the race awards banquet on Friday evening at 5 PM in St. Louis, the three of us agreed to go ahead and drive home after a quick shower and meal Thursday night. Bryan obliged us by driving and we arrived home safely around 4:30 AM – Rod at 5:30 AM in Branson.
This experience was a monumental challenge. In many ways it was the hardest event, perhaps the hardest thing, I have ever done. It is definitely not for the faint of heart or the ill-prepared.
If I even mention I might plan to do the 340 next year, just slap me and chain me to the door. OK, I could change my mind in a few months.
You can read my ten-page journal packed with all kinds of trivia and a blow-by-blow description if you email me at: RodPhil549@aol.com. I will be happy to forward it to you.
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The Missouri 340 is a fine canoe race. It is long, and it is tough. But it is not the longest canoe race in North America. There are to my certain knowlege two longer races, the Yukon River Quest at 460 miles, and the Yukon 1000 at 1000 miles.
The claim from the race organizer is: North America’s longest CONTINUOUS (meaning no stopping) canoe race. Understandably, the riffles in the Yukon would be prohibitively dangerous after dark, whereas the Missouri, after experiencing it first hand, is relatively benign, if you keep your ears open and manage to avoid the barges, whirlpools, wingdikes, channel markers, and floating debris in the 6-9 mph current… It’s still a little spooky, especially in the fog, which many of our participants in ’09 did.
Hi Rod. I hope all is well with you. I can’t imagine canoeing anywhere, for any length of time. in the heat we’ve been having lately.