We're in that time of year now when I'm ramping my training back up, and I ask myself, "What am I doing this for?" Hmm, yes. Good question. I'd better draw up at least a tentative race schedule.
What follows is just that: a tentative schedule--or, every event I could think of that's making even faint blips on my radar screen:
March
18 Battle On The Bayou. Old Fort Bayou, Ocean Springs, Mississippi. An 8.5-mile out-and-back course on a flatwater coastal bayou. Register
April
1 Top of the Teche. Bayou Teche, Leonville to Arnaudville, Louisiana. A 7.7-mile race down a Class I river. Register
8 Bluz Cruz Canoe and Kayak Race. Mississippi River, Vicksburg, Mississippi. A 21-mile race down the Mississippi from Madison Parish Port to the Vicksburg front. Register
22 Pascagoula Run. Pascagoula River, Pascagoula, Mississippi. A 12.5-mile race finishing at Lighthouse Park in Pascagoula. Register
May
13 Osage Spring 12. Osage River near Jefferson City, Missouri. A 12-mile race down a Class I river. Register
20 Chitimacha Race. Bayou Teche, New Iberia, Louisiana, to Chitimacha Nation. A 20-mile race down a Class I river. Register
June
17 Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race. Mississippi River, Memphis, Tennessee. The 36th edition of this classic. A 5000-meter race down the Mississippi, finishing at Mississippi River Park in downtown Memphis. Register
29 Music City SUP and Kayak Race. Cumberland River, Nashville, Tennessee. A 6-mile race on flatwater.
July
17-22 Gorge Downwind Championships. Columbia River, Hood River, Oregon. Register
August
5? The Paddle Grapple. Fontana Reservoir near Bryson City, North Carolina. A 6-mile flatwater race.
10-13 U.S. Canoe Association National Championships. Mississippi River, Dubuque, Iowa. Flatwater marathon races in numerous classes sanctioned by the USCA. Register
September
9 Lower Atchafalaya Race. Atchafalaya River, Patterson, Louisiana. An 8-mile race on this major distributary of the Mississippi River.
16? Gator Bait Race. Barnett Reservoir outside Jackson, Mississippi. A 5.5-mile flatwater race.
You can pretty well count on me to be at several of these races. The OICK Race here at Memphis on June 17 is always a season highlight. The race at Ocean Springs is another one I always plan to go to barring injury or any other unfortunate circumstance. I've been racing at Vicksburg for many years now, and I expect I'll plan to go back on the 8th of April.
Meanwhile, I've got the Paddle Grapple and Gator Bait events penciled into the same weekends they were on last year.
A more distant event I'd love to do is the Gorge Downwind Championships in July. I visited the Columbia River Gorge area back in 1998; I spent that trip paddling whitewater on the White Salmon River. I'd love to go back and experience what I understand are epic surf ski conditions on the Columbia. But it sure is a long way away... driving there and back would almost certainly make it a three-week endeavor at least, and I have to decide soon if I can be away from home that long, and if so I'll have to arrange pet care and stuff like that.
The USCA Nationals the next month are a good distance away as well, but more accessible. This year's event in Iowa is probably as close to where I live as the USCA Nationals will ever get, seeing as how the August heat here in the South makes hosting such an event practically out of the question.
Anyway... I probably won't make it to every event listed here, and new events might be added as the year moves along. But I've got at least a rough outline of a race schedule.
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