This is the beginning of The Texas Water Safari, aka "The World's Toughest Canoe Race". The 260-mile race takes place annually starting at the headwaters of the San Marcos River, continuing down a good stretch of the Guadalupe River, and finally finishing in the Gulf of Mexico. Although I have known about this race for years, it wasn't until last summer that I actually became a participant (or victim) of this grueling event. Even now, I find myself thinking, "What the hell was I thinking last summer? ...maybe I've truly lost my mind..."
So what is it about this race that makes it deserving of calling itself "The World's Toughest Canoe Race"? From an outsider's point of view, simply taking a look at the race description doesn't exactly convey the level of difficulty the race actually entails. The course covers 260 miles of Texas waterways, mostly on the San Marcos and Guadalupe Rivers, and grants its entrants a 100-hour deadline to finish the course. That's only an average of 2.6 miles per hour, sounds easy enough right?...Wrong! Taking a closer look into the official rules of the race helps to distinguish this race as the absolute "toughest" canoe race on the globe.
In order to compete in this race, the only source of propulsion allowed during the race is human power (generically meaning that all boats must be paddled). Competitors in the race are required to carry absolutely everything they need to complete the race onboard their boats. The bare-minimum requirements required by the official rules of the race mainly pertain to safety supplies (i.e. personal floatation, flares, whistle, lights for night travel, adequate floatation for the vessel itself, and a first-aid kit including supplies to treat snake-bites). As I found out quickly after compiling all of the supplies we thought we needed to complete the race, everything adds up to a lot of extra weight!
Aside from the challenges of overcoming the basic rules set forth by the rules of the race, the obstacles created by the terrain and nature are extreme. Over the course of the race, participants are forced to make many portages over land due to dams, log jams, etc. In this year's race particularly, due to the drought situation, there was a point of the race in which participants were forced to carry their boats on land for approximately an entire mile. Unfortunately (or fortunately perhaps), my partner and I did not succeed in making it that far in the course because of another problem we encountered... there was no water in the river. Because of this, we spent nearly 12 hours covering the first 40 miles of the race by having to drag, pull, and carry our boat downstream. In addition to the additional physical effort we had to put forth, the low water conditions led to puncturing a hole in the hull of our boat. With the river being extremely slow moving, the additional weight from our boat filling with water, and the time we spent trying to make repairs, we were not able to make the time cutoff of the second checkpoint in the race. In addition to the challenges created by the natural terrain, racers also face the possibilities of encountering snakes, hornets, and alligators along their way.
If these arguments don't sound challenging enough to qualify this race as the absolute "toughest", tack on the triple digit heat to add to the fatigue. Although The Texas Water Safari isn't the longest canoe race in existence, the time limitations set forth by the race tremendously increase the race's difficulty. With a 100-hour time limit to finish the race, the race is set up with safety in mind, and the first few checkpoints along the course being very fast to prevent racers from being on the more dangerous stretches during the night. The timing between the checkpoints generally allows more time versus distance due to fatigue as the race progresses, however in order to be competitive in the race, participants must expect to travel throughout at least some of the night(s). Because of limited visibility during the night, lights must be used at least part of the time. Unfortunately, although the temperature is cooler during the nights, the use of lights along the river attracts swarms of bugs (and possibly other creatures) creating an annoyance if not even danger for the boaters.
Should participants be fortunate enough to make it through the first two-thirds of the race course, there is an actual stretch of the track that is referred to as "Hallucination Alley". The occurrences of hallucinating among race participants is not uncommon based on the extreme heat, grueling pace, and length of the race combined.
In addition to all of the aforementioned challenges to be reckoned with by racers, the homestretch is perhaps even the biggest challenge (especially when combined with extreme fatigue and frustration). Racers eventually come to the mouth of the Guadalupe River which dumps them into the San Antonio Bay near Seadrift, TX. At this point, there is still another few miles to the finish line for the racers in store. While crossing the bay, racers face the possibility of their boats being capsized or flipped over by large waves. The crossing of a barge canal is also an unavoidable portion of the race course during the bay segment in which extreme caution must be used.
By evaluating all of the possible challenges and taking into account the ones that are assured, the possibilities of failure in this race generally prevails as the likely odd. Looking back at the design of the race mixed with the unfortunate situation of a drought this past summer, I truly feel like i got a taste of "The World's Toughest Canoe Race". How soon I will try my luck again at this challenge remains unanswered at this point though....
jm
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