Comparison of three famous ultra marathons
So you’ve heard of some of the major races in the U.S. The Texas Water Safari, the Missouri River 340 and the Everglades Challenge are just three examples of the races that challenge the soul as well as the body. But, unless you’ve paddled all three, it’s hard to compare each event. Marek Uliasz, expert paddler and excellent photographer, has paddled all three and shares his insights (and a few photos) into these famous races.
Twelve years ago, after paddling folding kayaks for more than 20 years, I got my first hard shell boat. I built a stitch-and-glue 19.5 Patuxent from CLC, perhaps the fastest kayak available for home building at that time. Racing? No, I just wanted to go by water, quickly to some remote photography destinations. A couple years later I was surfing the internet looking for winter paddling opportunities on Padre Island. I have never gone paddling there. Instead, I discovered the Texas Water Safari. After hours of watching video, three visits to Texas and two boats later I ran my first paddling race: the 2002 Texas Water Safari. I was hooked. Since then, I have completed the Texas Water Safari (TWS) three times, entered three WaterTribe events and finished one Everglades Challenge (WT), completed three Missouri River 340 races (MR340), and several shorter events from 10 to 100 miles. How can I compare the three ultra-marathon 22
paddling races, TWS, WT and MR340? What are the challenges? What are the experiences? The distance to be covered by the racers seem to be quite similar. All three races run non-stop with mandatory checkpoints. You need to be prepared to paddle day and night, and paddling conditions can change drastically with the weather. TWS and MR340 are river races while WT is a coastal race with longer time frame. Everybody has a different story and experience. I am not a competitive athlete. My goal is just to finish these races, competing mostly against myself. My additional challenge is to shoot photographs and video while racing. The perspective of Carter Johnson, who paddled all three races in a surf ski setting a solo record every time, would be quite different. The following pages will outline side-byside comparison addressing history, race course and format, boat choices and team support.