2019 Race Schedule (first draft)

Here's an early look at some of the places I might be going to race this year:


March
30  Battle On The Bayou.  Old Fort Bayou, Ocean Springs, Mississippi.  An 8.5-mile flatwater race.  Register


April
6  Oyster City Challenge.  Apalachicola River, Apalachicola, Florida.  8 miles down a coastal river.  Register

13  Perche Creek Gutbuster.  Perche Creek, Columbia, Missouri.  10 miles on a Class I river.

27  Lake Cumberland Regatta.  Lake Cumberland near Columbia, Kentucky.  A 12- to 15-mile flatwater race.

27-28  Carolina Cup.  Intracoastal Waterway and Atlantic Ocean, Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina.  Flatwater and open-water racing.  Register


May
11  Bluz Cruz Canoe and Kayak Race.  Mississippi River, Vicksburg, Mississippi.  A 22-mile race down the largest river in North America.  Register

18  Almost Heaven Paddle Battle.  Summersville Reservoir near Summersville, West Virginia.  A 12-mile flatwater race.  Register


June
8  Taylorsville Lake Paddle Battle.  Taylorsville Reservoir, Taylorsville, Kentucky.  A 10-mile flatwater race.

15  Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race.  Mississippi River, Memphis, Tennessee.  The 37th edition of this classic.  A 5000-meter dash down the largest river in North America.


July
6  The Lovely Laurel River Lake Paddle Blast.  Laurel River Lake, Corbin, Kentucky.  A 10-mile flatwater race.

18-20  Gorge Downwind Championships.  Columbia River, Hood River, Oregon.


August
3  Ohio River Paddlefest.  Ohio River, Cincinnati, Ohio.  A 9-mile race on this Midwest artery.


September
7?  Lower Atchafalaya Sprint Races.  A series of 3-mile races on flat, gently-flowing water.  A racer may participate in both solo and team-boat classes.


October
5  Big South Fork River Dash.  Big South Fork of the Cumberland River near Whitley City, Kentucky.  A 12-mile mostly-flatwater race.

*          *          *

Finding races to do is easier than it used to be now that we have Internet search engines and social media and stuff like that.  Even so, it still takes some persistence to put together a full schedule.  Some race organizers do a better job than others of announcing their dates and publicizing their events.  You can expect this race schedule to evolve as the year goes along.

The usual disclaimer: this is by no means a comprehensive list of all the canoe and kayak races in 2019.  These are simply the events I know of at this time that I am at least somewhat likely to attend. With a couple of notable exceptions, I have selected the events here because they are within a reasonable drive of my home in Memphis, Tennessee.  I also look for races of the two-hours-or-less variety, since I'm not an ultra-endurance athlete.

In any case, I hope this post is a useful resource for readers as they put together their own race schedules.