by Linda McCoy – USASUP Board Member and SouthCentral Regional Rep
The Texas Winter One Hundred (a.k.a. The TWO) was held on February 28, 2024. Race Director, West Hansen, puts on such a great race! The 25k SUP “short course” runs from the FM 969 bridge in Utley, Texas to Fisherman’s Park in Bastrop, Texas. This race is for canoe, kayak, and SUP racers. There were 14 entrants in the SUP division for this year’s short course. No SUP’ers were brave enough to tackle the full 100K this year (there have been less than 5 brave souls in the full course over the years).
The pre-race meeting is always great! Each participant gets a raffle ticket and West and his family always have so many great prizes! I was lucky enough to win a sweet rocking camp chair with my ticket ending in 007!
I paddled the course the weekend before the race with some friends and the river was WAY down – at about 230 CFS. Our fins scraped bottom several times and there were a lot of ripples and rapids to navigate. In the week leading up to the race we had some heavy rains and the river peaked at 5200 CFS by that Wednesday. On race day, the river was running at 1200 CFS, so about 6 times higher than the weekend before. We asked for more water and Mother Nature DELIVERED!
I Juliet caravanned from Austin to Bastrop with a few friends – both of whom had never paddled the course! We parked our cars at the finish line and saw that the boat ramp and surrounding area were covered in about 10 inches of mud! We took a shuttle to the bridge and started to gather our gear – as well as gather our wits about us!
I was a nervous to see what the river would be like. It can be a bit of a dangerous course with debris, murky water, and plenty of obstacles & strainers! The racecourse is bordered by private property, so there are no support boats along the way. I made sure to have a knife on my P.F.D. in case I got into any trouble as well as a small first-aid kit, heavy duty tape, and a small towel to dry any holes in the event of an emergency board repair.
West gave a safety meeting and went over the course verbally. There were several paddlers who had never done the course before – including Juliet and Rachele! Juliet has been paddling for years, but this was Rachele’s very FIRST SUP RACE! She was so excited! With Jennifer, there were four women in the running -the most women of any other year!
The men’s field had a great mix of TWO “old timers” and new paddlers. Scott Seiffert, Morris Paillet, John Knippers, and Douglas Chavarria were back for another go. John, who tackled the full 100k course in 2021, was fresh off the plane – returning from the Gla Gla race in France! Newcomers included Reynald “Bong” Mercado, Mark Villanova, John Upton, Larkin Hood, and Greg Wingo! Greg is the race director for The Last Paddler Standing, which John, Scott, and Jennifer had just participated in. Greg also directs the Alabama 650. John Knippers just made history for being the first Stand Up Paddler to complete that race!
The short course race starts at noon and we all gathered on the water about 11:45. We paddled upstream, against the flow, until the countdown started. Once West called out 15 seconds we turned and lined up to GOOOOOO! The first rapids appear near the 1.5 mile mark – but they looked NOTHING like the weekend before. It was clear that this muddy river would not be the same! The rapids were washed out and there was a new island to navigate – but which way to go? I recognized some landmarks and took the left side, which was a good choice! Two of my fellow paddlers took the right and I could hear some scraping sounds coming from that side of the island. I took the first bend in the river alongside Jennifer. It’s tricky to navigate moving water when you are in close proximity to another paddler. She and I stayed pretty close to each other for the middle part of the race, trading leading spots when one of us took the better line. We could see John and Douglass ahead of us, but Morris and Bong were way out of sight!
Scott was close behind us, so I knew I couldn’t let my guard down! We made it to “The Cliffs of Insanity!” as I call them – a nod to the Princess Bride. That is roughly the halfway point – I was feeling good and my nerves were settling down. Most of the rapids that were hard to maneuver the previous weekend were not as hard to navigate because the water was so high and our fins were clearing the river bottom. There were lots of eddies, rocks, and boils to navigate, so we had to pay attention to what was in the water. Jennifer and I were still close, but she was starting to pull ahead of me. Every once in a while I could hear Scott behind me, so I had to keep up a good pace! John and Douglass were well ahead of us by now. There were a lot of fun bumps to navigate and long stretches of straight paddling. The wind would kick up every once in a while to keep things interesting. I was feeling a little trepidatious about “Wildman Rapids” coming up around the 10-mile mark. There are several big boulders that you have to watch out for and the water is flowing pretty swiftly. You definitely don’t want to get dumped! I could hear the water rushing over the rocks before I could see what we were in for. They actually were kind of fun! With the water level so high, they were pretty easy to navigate. Schwoo!
In the next long stretch, Jennifer turned on the juice and pulled ahead of me. I was running out of steam, but I was trying to watch her paddle strokes to keep somewhat of a good pace. She picked some really good lines and was making great time! I saw the stairs for Bob Bryant Park and I knew I was about a mile out from the finish line. Jennifer was well ahead of me and out of my sight line by now. I dug a little deeper to see if I had a little bit more gas in the tank! I took a quick peek over my shoulder and Scott was on my tail! So, I found a good rhythm and just focused on my breathing and stroke technique. We had one long line of rapids to navigate and I had to take advantage of any push I could get from the water! I paddled as hard as I could. Rounding the bend, I could see the big iron pipes that stuck out from the bank and I knew the finish line was close! I could hear Scott breathing, but I didn’t dare take a peek and risk falling. I knew he was giving it his all – and SO WAS I!! The finish line sign was in sight and all our friends were cheering for us on the banks of the river! That gave me the little rush of adrenaline that I needed! Both Scott and I were giving it all we had! I could tell by way people were calling our names that Scott was too close for comfort! It was a race to the finish!
I crossed the finish line in 2:36:45 and Scott’s time was 2:36:47!! TWO SECONDS!! What a thrill! You know the best part? Scott gave me a big ol hug at the finish line and told me how much fun he had racing with me. Of course, West was there, too, with a big smile, a big hug, and bag of “gold doubloons” (dollar coins) for my second-place finish! He also gave us our super cool TWO finishers beanies! I quickly put it over my Mermaid cap – my ears were cold! Jennifer had such a great race! She finished in 2:32 and greeted me at the finish line - we both congratulated each other on a great race!
We put our boards to the side and headed over to the GUMBO STAND!! That’s right!! WARM GUMBO, rice, and cookies at the finish– and the biggest hug from Jeannette Wilburn Burris! Does it get any better? We sat and decompressed and chatted about the race, it was a beautiful sunny, but chilly day and we were all so happy! We heard cheers as we finished our gumbo and made a beeline to the banks to cheer on John Upton who was finishing with a time of 2:54! I was able to grab my warm socks and dry shoes just in time to cheer on Mark (3:19), Larkin (3:19:18), and Juliet (3:20) who were all paddling together across the finish line. Of course, Juliet was taking selfies! Hahaha! She had no idea she was in THIRD place! West bestowed her with her own “bag o’ gold” and her finisher beanie and she was thrilled! Rachele and Greg finished up together with 3:24 and 3:24:10, respectively. Rachele was tired, but you couldn’t tell from the giant smile on her face! She just completed her FIRST SUP RACE and what a race it was! Everyone helped each other with their gear and congratulations were given all around! Morris took the first spot with a time of 2:12, followed by Bong with 2:16, John rounded out the top 3 money winners with 2:22. Douglass had a strong finish with 2:28!
The canoe and kayak racers – who paddled the entire 100k course – started coming in soon after we all finished! They start their race at the crack of dawn. Perfect planning so that many of us finish in a close timeframe. It’s so exciting to see them paddling so strong after 62 miles on the river! There is no other paddling community like we have here in Texas! It is so nice to be welcomed into the canoe and kayak community by so many wonderful people!
I told Juliet and Rachele about our tradition to eat PIE at Maxine’s on Main after the TWO. I mean – it’s PIE…and it’s a TRADITION… and we just paddled 15 miles so those calories don’t count, right? The coconut cream pie really hit the spot (and so did the chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes! Shhh!!) We split it.
BIG THANKS go out to West Hansen and Barbara Hansen Edington “the dynamic TWO -O” (you’re welcome for the new nickname), and the whole TWO crew! This a such a wonderful race and I highly recommend that you put in on your race calendar for 2025!
It’s a great way to start the year!
