THE LONGEST SINGLE DAY EXPEDITION PADDLING RACE IN THE WORLD
BY HAP WI L S O N
At the start line, nobody spoke. It was too cold and the anxiousness of the race permeated the pall of early morning. Misted breath hovered over each paddler as I looked around. We were an eclectic
gathering of 50 teams. The three standup paddleboarders among the canoes and kayaks looked out of place, rearing up like wraiths in the fog. I couldn’t fathom how they were going to stand it for 130 kilometers. When the air horn blew, signalling the beginning of the race, I just sat there,
waiting for the initial explosion of blades in water to calm. The early morning sun burst from behind a cloud, giving the misty morning a golden glow. It was surreal. “Hap!” my wife, Andrea, called from the bow. “Get paddling, I’m freezing!”
44 | Canoeroots
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