MR340 (updated August 3rd)

The MR340, the world's longest non-stop paddling race, began Tuesday morning on the Missouri River in Kansas City with about 600 total paddlers in the various solo and team divisions. Paddlers have until Friday evening to reach St. Charles in order to become official finishers. Every year, almost without fail, the racers have to deal with high heat and storms, and the weather over the next few days should provide both.

There are two lake-area competitors in the men's solo paddling division--one veteran, ond one newbie. Bob Meyer of Camdenton, in boat #4130, has competed a number of times in this race. Andrew Girdley of Eldon, in boat #8670, is doing his first MR340.

You can find live tracking for the race here. For photos and race developments, check out the MR340 Community's Facebook page.

My shoulders, hands and rear end hurt just thinking about this race.  How it has remained wildly popular since its inception in 2012 is beyond me.

Locals' results:

Andrew Girdley stopped after about 4-1/2 hours of racing, covering 30 miles.

Bob Meyer didn't start the race.

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BADWATER 135 ULTRAMARATHON (updated August 3rd)

The Badwater 135 Ultramarathon, "the toughest footrace in the world", starts Monday night in Death Valley, California. Past winners Pete Kostelnick, Ashley Paulson (100-mile world record holder), and Harvey Lewis (known more for his Big Dog's Backyard Ultra races) are among the 100 competitors. The time limit to finish is 45 hours.  The finish line is at Mt. Whitney, and the course has about 14,000 feet of climbing. High temperatures for the next couple days should be around 117°; nighttime lows will be in the 90s.

Race tracking is available here.

Live streaming will be available at the race's Facebook page.   Instagram and other links can be found here.

Final results:  The men's and women's race records were broken this year.  The men's winner crossed the finish line 40 minutes ahead of the previous record of 20:53:41.  (Think about that for a second: 135 miles in extraordinary heat, with 14,000 feet of climbing, in under 21 hours.)  The top woman won in 21:05:32--41 minutes ahead of Ashley Paulson's record set in 2023. 

Pete Kostelnick finished 6th overall, in 23:50:12.  Ashley Paulson finished 7th overall--and second female--in 24:59:36.  Harvey Lewis placed 11th, finishing in 25:55:41.

There were 88 official finishers, and 7 DNF's.  There were no competitors from Missouri.  (I haven't seen Missouri represented at Badwater in all the years I've followed the race.)  About one-third of this year's field came from outside the U.S.  You can view the final results here.

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CHRISTMAS IN JULY 5K RUN/WALK (updated July 27th)

A crowd of 61 runners and walkers turned out for Saturday's ninth annual Christmas in July 5K Run/Walk at the Tri-County YMCA in Osage Beach. That was down from 79 last year, but still well above the 39 that participated in 2024. Looking at the hometowns of the participants, at least a third of the field were not from the Lake area, and presumably made this race part of their stay while on vacation.

As expected for this race, the weather was very warm and humid, with a temperature of 72° and relative humidity of 100% at the 7:00 a.m. start.   Some cloud cover and a slight breeze made conditions only slightly bearable for running.

It's obligatory to get a photo of "YMCA" being spelled out at he starting line of every YMCA race.

Tucker Seise has won every YMCA race in which he's participated these last five years, but that string of victories came to an end on this day.  Ashton Mai, a 19 year-old from Ely, Iowa--and a cross country runner at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa--trailed Tucker nearly the entire race, but sprinted ahead of him near the finish line in perhaps the closest race finish ever in the Lake area.  (Both were credited with 17:04 finish times.)  Ashton came to the Lake a few earlier than the rest of his family in order to compete in this race.

The women's race was won by local runner Natasha Boettcher, in 25:19.  Natasha is no stranger to winning Lake-area races, but this was her first appearance and victory at Christmas in July.      

    Men's and women's race winners Ashton Mai
and Natasha Boettcher.

The complete race results can be found here.

Many more photos from the race have been posted here.

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I'll post details of upcoming events as soon as I can. Until then, here are links to them:

Saturday, October 10: COMC Pretty in Pink Bubble Run 5K/10K

Saturday, October 17: Oktoberfest .5K and 5K

Saturday, November 7:  Phylicia Carson Memorial 5K

Saturday, November 14: Ozark Diamond Gauntlet 3/6/9/12-Hour and 1-Lap Races

Thanksgiving Day, November 26: LOTO Turkey Trot 5K and Fun Run