I lucked out yesterday morning when I went down to the Missouri River to get some video and interviews from the participants in the Missouri River 340 Kayak Race. The people I spoke with ending up being a part of teams that finished in the top five! I caught up with the dad of one of the racers who was in a six-man group that was setting a record pace, averaging over nine miles per hour. Later, I then spoke with the mixed tandem winners from Georgia last year as well as their challengers from Austin, TX., Virginia and Dodd. Their boat was known as “Hot Sweaty Blonde and a Yeager Bomb.” I could tell when they pulled into the checkpoint they were going to catch the defending champs.
That’s exactly what they did. The mixed tandem got into St. Charles this morning at 4:19 a.m. and finished the race in 44 hours and 19 minutes. Virginia and Dodd came into Jefferson City, seventh overall and finished the race fourth overall. 274 boats entered the race in Kansas City on Tuesday. As of this morning, at least 100 of those bailed on the race.
