RACE PLANNER DATE
September 12 to 14, 2014 LOCATION
Huntsville, Ontario WEBSITE
www.muskokariverx.com With our 24-hour deadline approaching
and committed to finishing, we paddled away from the checkpoint’s warmth. But back on the water, it wasn’t long before we started to drift into sleep, paddle in hands. “It was scary,” Andrea later told me, “it was
like falling asleep at the wheel.” We would paddle a few strokes then, leaning on the gun- nels, fall half asleep and drift. And we contin- ued that way for some time. It was the brightening sky in the east that
The winners. PHOTO: COURTESY GREG GOULTER/ALGONQUIN OUTFITTERS
pushing upstream
Stroke after stroke can get the mind wan- dering. As the dim haze of the evening ap- proached, I reflected on how history has a convoluted way of repeating itself, at least when it comes to canoeing. Marathon dis- tances were the driving element governing success or failure during the frenzy of the fur- trade and exploration era. In 1828, Sir George Simpson, governor of
the Hudson Bay Company, pushed his heavily laden canoe upstream 630 kilometers on the Hayes River in Manitoba, from York Factory to Lake Winnipeg, in six days. Today, the same trip going downstream takes an average of three weeks. Simpson was known for his physical stamina
when traveling through the wilderness. In his day, paddling great distances in a short time meant profit for the company; paddlers were paid to push the limits of endurance. Today, marathon paddling is something entirely dif- ferent; now, we gladly pay for the opportunity to test our mettle and see if we’re as tough as our forefathers.
day’s end
By the time we reached our third and final checkpoint in Port Sydney at 2 a.m., we were just 20 kilometers from the finish line and chilled to the bone. We’d arrived after hours of slogging upstream through shallow rapids. A weak moonlight had illuminated the shore briefly, but once temperatures dropped below freezing the river fog consumed everything. Icy tendrils worked their way down our collars and through our carefully planned layer systems. The fog thickened until the spotlights af-
fixed to the bow of the canoe were useless and we were forced to feel our way upriver in total darkness. At the checkpoint, we were grateful to warm ourselves by a crackling campfire. Family had come out to cheer us on and while we chatted, rested and snacked, shore-side cottagers cheered other racers as they came and went. Officials told us close to a third of the teams
had quit—some had gotten turned around, some were lost and others were just dead tired and found solace by sleeping in the for- est, waiting for sun-up.
Navigating portages, rapids, waterfalls, chutes and gravel bars with only maps and compasses are necessary skills; all the better if you can do them in the dark, without sleep.
48 | Canoeroots
revitalized us. We spent the last hour of the race in a sprint, J-stroke and all. We crossed the finish line just as the sun peaked over the ho- rizon, 14 minutes inside of the 24-hour cut-off. Exhaustion was forgotten in the excitement of success. Aside from the race co-ordinators, there was little fanfare. Most of the teams wait- ed for a post-race breakfast at a nearby restau- rant, and we wasted no time in joining them.
damage report
As I dug into a plate of bacon and eggs, we got the damage report. By morning, six emergency calls had been
placed. Two were from SPOT panic buttons, one due to a shoulder injury and another be- cause of exhaustion. Three teams also called for assistance via cell phone, due to being lost or exhausted. “The sixth team was heading in the wrong
direction and we were watching them on the live tracker and sent a team to intercept them,” said Varieur. “Only one person was taken to the hospital, and that was for pre- cautionary measures.” Blowing away even the race organizers’ expectations,
veteran marathon paddlers
Bob Vincent, 71, and bow mate Dean Brown, won first place, clocking in at 14 hours and 12 minutes. “Our plan was to never stop paddling ex-
cept for the portages,” says Vincent of their strategy. Even snacking was done in shifts. And while Andrea and I didn’t come in first,
we did receive an award of our own—we won the prize for most gear carried. Trippers to the bone, our three-day supply of food, hot coffee and gear had not gone unnoticed.
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