2020 Race Schedule (first draft)

My mind was so consumed with my trip to South Africa that I'm a little late getting my 2020 race schedule started.  But here's the first draft.

Please be aware that this is not a comprehensive schedule of all the races happening in the U.S. or the Mid South or whatever.  It's simply a list of races that I am likely to attend this year.  If you live in the same approximate part of the country as I and are interested in a more complete list of races scheduled for this year, I encourage you to look in places like the Waterman Series website, the Midwest Paddle Racing website, and the Tour du Teche website, as well as online registration sites like Web Scorer and Paddle Guru.

You might notice that this schedule looks awfully brief.  That's partly because I don't yet know the dates of some events and will fill them in later.  But it's also because I'm thinking about racing less this year.  Last year I did nine races, and for me that's a lot.  If I lived in a part of the country with many events within a 2- or 3-hour radius, then I might plan to do more.  But with the obvious exception of the Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race, my closest race of the ones listed here is the Vicksburg race, and it's a four-hour drive (not counting the fact that you have to shuttle your boat yourself the day before).  Last year I found myself doing a lot of 5-, 6-, and 7-hour drives, and that really wore on me after a while.

Nothing is set in stone yet, of course, but it's not outrageous to think the Gorge Downwind race will be my last of the season, and after that I'll just go out and surf barge wakes on the Mississippi and fun stuff like that.  We'll see.  In any case, here you go--my first draft:

March
21  The Paddle Bender.  Murray Reservoir, Prosperity, South Carolina.  An 8-mile race on flatwater.  Register

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


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


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

13  Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race.  Mississippi River, Memphis, Tennessee.  The 39th edition of this classic.  A 5000-meter dash down the largest river in North America.


July
18-20  Gorge Downwind Championships.  Columbia River, Hood River, Oregon.  A 14-mile race in the epic downwind conditions of the Columbia River Gorge.

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