Work?

How can anyone get any work done these days with all the excitment leading up to this years Everglades Challenge.  The WaterTribe forum is as active as ever, with the 3 big races, and only 25 days, posts have been been informative, exciting,  inspiring, and amazing.

Even SOS, my son Alan who is currently sailing around the world has been chiming in when he has internet access.

Last minute entree into the 1200 mile Ultimate Florida Challenge is ManitouCruiser, Mark Przedwojewski  owner of Kruger Canoes, who also completed (and was one of top 3 finishers) in 2006 UFC. ManitouCruiser holds the record for the most WaterTribe finishes (11).   Last years EC was his first WT miss, and it was strange without him.  There is always a contingency of Kruger Canoes (Cruisers, SeaWinds and Dreamcatchers) each year, and this year 5 of the 8 boats in the UFC are Krugers, it’s going to be quite a race. It looks like no one is cruising it, just hard core racers.

Another notable last minute entree’s for the 67 mile Ultra Marathon sprint is the father/daughter team of Kapakahi and Boo (Brian and Marissa).  Boo was the youngest (11 yrs) to ever finish an EC (2008), she and her dad were paddling for cancer fundraising.  They followed that up the next year with a finish in the MissouriRiver340. School is the reason for “only” the UM this year or they might have thrown their hat into the EC again. Kapakahi and Boo  also each have their own blog, and this year Brian will be following and reporting on all 3 races on the Kruger Canoe Adventures, where he has provided very entertaining reports on the many Kruger endurance challenges over the past year.

And of course SharkChow (Warren Richey) has entered the EC.  Winner and finisher of the 2006 FC, and other ECs, and author of the new book ‘Without a Paddle’ available in June. Everyone is excited to see him back.  His daily countdown posts of advice on the forum  have really added to this years excitement, and conversation.

SharkChow is a good example of just how important the mental piece of these races actually are. He’s just admitted on forum that he’s only been in his kayak twice in the last 2 years.  The importance of mental attitude is well known for all endurance sports, I’ve posted about it in the past. It’s all good news for me, every year I find I have less and less time to train on the water, but having done a few of these at least I know what it takes.  It’s just seems to hurt more.

 

Yup, it's getting really exiting, I may just have to stay off the internet completely to get my work done.