Here's a photo of the 2005 Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race that I think I must have swiped from the website of The Commercial Appeal, our daily newspaper. In some years, the paper has given the race very nice coverage. In other years, including last year, the paper has barely acknowledged the race.
So be it. There's no doubt that as a paddler I am biased, but I honestly think the OICK race is the single best annual event in Memphis. We have this incredible natural wonder right at the doorstep of our city, and for most of each year it is underappreciated and underutilized for recreation and fitness. But one one day each year, several hundred men, women, and children get intimately acquainted with the river in their human-powered craft, and then celebrate the experience with food, music, and fun in Mississippi River Park. Then, when the festivities have concluded, they clean up whatever mess they have made and turn the place back over to the everyday public in better condition than it had been before. I know of no other event in town that can boast such bullet points.
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