PHOTO GALLERY: Missouri River 340 racers get late but successful start
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Lightning and high winds delayed the start of this year’s Missouri River 340 race. Scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. Tuesday morning, boats didn’t leave the starting point at Kaw Point in Kansas City, Kan., until 9:30 a.m.
Race co-director Scott Mansker said the race, a 340-mile trek for canoeists and kayakers down the Missouri River to St. Charles, was delayed for the first time in its short four-year history.
However, competitors and their support crews still enjoyed the festivities of the opening day of the race. Music from a live DJ preceded the traditional count down to the race’s start. After a gun shot from a musket fired by men dressed in authentic 1803 clothing, racers got under way.
The men were from the Discovery Expedition organization, which from 2003 to 2006 reenacted the Lewis and Clark expedition across America. Six members of the group entered this year’s MR340.
They are just one of many interesting teams competing in this year’s event.
Wally Werderich and Nick Josefik from Illinois are the Los Humungos Paddelos, who like to dress in fancy masks like luchadores, a flamboyant type of Mexican wrestler.
“We like to go to river races just to lighten the mood,” Werderich said.
Team Coffee Dog from Kansas City has also become well known at the MR340. This year, the two-man team is racing in a canoe home made from recycled materials. After they finish the race, the pair of paddlers plans to ride thrift shop bicycles along the Katy Trail to get back home from St. Charles.
For more on these racers stories, and for continuous updates from Missourian reporters on this year's race as it happens, go to mr340race.wordpress.com.