Peter Harriman

Judging from his position in the thick of the flotilla and not at the front, he was probably in an adventure class not a competitive one.

Less than a quarter-mile into the 72-mile South Dakota Kayak Challenge, though, the racer was bobbing in the Missouri River next to an overturned boat about 10 feet offshore from bemused spectators lining the bank at Yankton's Riverside Park early Saturday morning.

How do you like your adventure so far?

Founded in 2010 by Jarett Bies and Steven Dahlmeier, the annual race from Yankton to Sioux City has taken place in temperatures hot enough to send competitors to the hospital in Vermillion with heat injuries, and in 2011 it was cancelled by an historic flood. Kayakers and canoers have been rained on and chilled, and race official Ryan Snuggerud said one of the years he competed head winds roaring up the river were strong enough to overcome the current and carry him upstream if he stopped paddling. So the high overcast, moderate winds and a cool morning hinting at getting warm but not oppressively hot were prime conditions for this year's race.

The free flowing characteristics of the Missouri National Recreational River that make up much of the course is the most striking attribute of the Kayak Challenge. It attracted 148 racers from 14 states and Canada Saturday. In a preliminary to the race Friday in Yankton, the stretch of river was dedicated as the newest National Water Trail.

"It's fantastic. I'm used to the lower Missouri, and this is nothing like it. It's beautiful. I really like it," said Collin Doggett, of St. Louis. He raced in the men's solo competitive class, and if he was appreciating the scenery he did so on the fly. Through the second of four checkpoints along the course at Mulberry Bend, Doggett was in 10th place among all classes, about 40 minutes behind the overall leaders, the tandem team of Matt Green, of Jefferson City, MO. and David Lackey, of Ashland, MO.

All of Missouri, it seemed, came north for the race, including Kevin Gabelsberger, of Frankenstein, MO. Along with teammates Kent Robinson, of Bonnots Mill, MO. and Todd Smith of Overland Park, KS., Gabelsberger competed in the open class.

The Kayak Challenge course record was 8:50, and Gabelsberger's team, The Whole Nine Yards, was looking for a finish time between nine hours and 9:30. To get it, they were going to have to be more diligent about hunting the river channel than on their home waters, where the Missouri is hemmed in by riprapped banks.

"It's tricky up there," Gabelsberger acknowledged of the wandering river above Mulberry Bend. "You've got to pay a lot more attention to watching the water."

Calvin Hassel, of Grand Island, Neb., was among the leaders, just 10 minutes off the pace at Mulberry Bend. This was impressive enough, considering he was racing solo. It was even more so since he was paddling a C-1 marathon canoe. Where other competitiors in kayaks enjoyed the advantage of windmilling their double-bladed paddles, Hassel stabbed his single blade into the water again, and again, relentlessly.

However, he has won multiple national championships in marathon canoeing, and while he didn't stop to exchange pleasantries with race officials or spectators at the checkpoints, his reputation was such that most people along the banks were keeping an eye on him. He was racing well enough that he was easy to spot.

Hassel would be the antithesis of the hapless competitor who took a bath before the race was five minutes old. But the Kayak Challenge is for everyone. Nine safety boats accompanied the fleet of kayaks and canoes, according to Dahlmeier. Picking up overturned boaters and returning them to the race was part of a day's work for them. Last year, Dahlmeier said, a storm sprung up at Sioux City at the close of the race, and a Search and Rescue team had to pull a team off the river within sight of the finish. "They came so close to finishing last year," Dahlmeier said. "They came back this year."

The opportunity to offer aid changed Snuggerud from a competitor to an official Saturday. He said he was able to help another racer out of trouble so she could finish last year.

"I thought 'this is kind of cool," he said while taking a break from organizing the first checkpoint at Myron Grove. "That's why I'm here."

Clay Flesner and Sam Renes, of Sioux Falls, were having an experience probably typical for a majority of the Kayak Challenge competitors. For the third year, they teamed up in the men's tandem adventure class. They weren't going to win, but they were beating their time from last year.

Renes said at Mulberry Point they had a goal of finishing in about 12 hours. This compared favorably to the pace of some racers who would camp out along the river Saturday night, acording to Bies and Dahlmeier, and would not finish until today.

In the open stretch of river above the Vermillion-Newcastle, Neb. bridge, Flesner reported, they had been buffetted by headwinds, but on the plus side they had hit only two sandbars, fewer than last year.

At Mulberry Bend they were still feeling good, said Renes, and they planned to bypass the next potential stop at the third checkpoint at Bolton "unless we need a major meal."

Devouring peanut butter sandwiches at Mulberry Bend seemed a sound tactical move that played into the goal of sailing past Bolton.

All in all, it was shaping up to be a pretty good Kayak Challenge, and between bites of sandwich Flesner offered a though that applied to the array of competitors and suggests what keeps many of them coming back year after year.

"Being on the river is a great thing for all of us," he said. "It's a different adventure each and every time."