It can be lonely out on the river as the pack spreads out.
The leaders of the pack paddled into St. Charles Wednesday evening, less than 40 hours after they started their 340 mile journey down the Missouri River from Kansas City. A two-man team from Texas, known as Riverfitness finished as the overall winner of the MR340, finishing with a time of 38 hours, 38 minutes.
They passed through Jefferson City, not stopping at the checkpoint at 7 a.m. on Wednesday morning, reaching the Capitol City in 24 hours, reaching 223 of the 340 miles in one day. Just behind them was solo Ryan Slebos who followed into St. Charles at 7:43 yesterday evening, winning the top solo spot with a time of 36 hours, 42 minutes.
This year the winning tandem time was over two hours faster from last year. A faster current may have played a role, but this year’s participants also had to deal with 100 degree temperatures on Tuesday. Slebos beat last year’s solo winner by 2.5 hours.
The race is known as the world’s longest non-stop river race.
431 boats entered the race and as of Thursday morning, 48 hours after the start, more than 170 had dropped out of the race.
Top ten finishes:
| 1 | 6638 | Riverfitness | Men’s Tandem | 9 – St. Charles | OUT | 7/29/15 6:34 PM |
9.855 | 34:34 | |
| 2 | 1976 | Ryan Slebos | Men’s Solo | 9 – St. Charles | OUT | 7/29/15 7:43 PM |
9.187 | 36:42 | |
| 3 | 1300 | Joe Mann | Men’s Solo | 9 – St. Charles | OUT | 7/29/15 8:57 PM |
8.979 | 37:56 | |
| 4 | 9963 | J. Glenn Phaup | Men’s Solo | 9 – St. Charles | IN | 7/29/15 10:32 PM |
10.586 | 39:32 | |
| 5 | 4101 | E. Sutter | Men’s Solo | 9 – St. Charles | IN | 7/29/15 10:32 PM |
8.594 | 39:32 | |
| 6 | 1845 | Lone Star Gals | Women’s Tandem | 9 – St. Charles | IN | 7/29/15 10:43 PM |
8.322 | 38:43 | |
| 7 | 3247 | Osage Paddle Sports | Men’s Tandem | 9 – St. Charles | IN | 7/29/15 11:54 PM |
8.575 | 39:54 | |
| 8 | 0018 | Wayne Anderson | Men’s Solo | 9 – St. Charles | IN | 7/30/15 12:06 AM |
8.392 | 41:06 | |
| 9 | 0724 | Gerry Mitchell | Men’s Solo | 9 – St. Charles | IN | 7/30/15 12:14 AM |
8.235 | 41:14 | |
| 10 | 5555 | OMMFG | Mixed Tandem | 9 – St. Charles | IN | 7/30/15 12:17 AM |
8.885 | 40:17 |
