Colorado River 100 Race Pictures

Looking back on the race, I now realize that there are some things that I was really worked up about that I shouldn't have worried about at all. I lost lots of sleep the night before because of my cracked paddle. I was worried that some other boats at the start would hit me and cause me to dump right at the starting line. I was worried that it would take me 20+hours to finish the race. I was worried that I would cramp up if I pushed too hard (that had happened twice before during training). Eh - all that worrying over pretty much nothing. The paddle held up, I got off the start slow but was upright, I finished in 16 1/2 hours, and had plenty of water because I was going faster than I normally do when training. Thank again to Scott for being a great team captain and photographer during the race.

It was a dark start at 7:00am. I am locked and loaded ready to get this thing started.
At the start you had to be "standing on land". I.E. you had to be straddling your boat on a sand bar that was in the river. When the horn goes off, you get in and start paddling hoping that someone doesn't hit you from the side flipping you out.
Lots of boats in my class - adventure solo. I think that there ended up being 100 in this class....by far the largest.
And we are off. I chose to be a little less aggressive at the start to ensure that I didn't flip and could ease into a good pace. I knew that I wasn't going to win the division, so I decided to not kill myself at the start.This is the competitive class lining up at the starting line. Some of these guys are super fast...the top two paddlers finished in 12 1/2 hours!!!
The competitive class start! Money and bragging rights are on the line for these guys, so they push pretty hard.
Scott found some nice scenery around central Texas during his driving between checkpoints. He told me that he saw a cool tree at once point which I just brushed off. But it really was a very cool old tree.
An emergency staff member on a stand up paddle board directing traffic at checkpoint #1.
Pulling into Plum Park checkpoint #2 sporting my sheik look...
Heading to LaGrange checkpoint #3.
It was a fun race, and I will definitely be back next year. The pain wasn't nearly as bad as I was anticipating. If I can cut a half hour off my pace, then I should make the top 5-6 in my class next year. Something to shoot for... :)