Our 2020 Ultra Marathon MR340
My wife and I had our hearts and minds set for a six-person, “Big Boat” finish this year in the Texas Water Safari (TWS), or “World’s Toughest Canoe Race.” It was postponed from June to September and then finally canceled like so many events globally. During our training runs prior, there was talk of assembling a co-ed or “mixed” team with four of us to chase down a record finish in the Missouri River 340 mile race (aka MR340).
During this time, my wife Sonja; was approached to be one of the teammates for this goal. She has been interested in doing additional races beyond the TWS so, she, of course, said, yes. We laid out a foundation for a multiple peak format with the 340 first in August, and then a bounce back for the postponed 260 in September. Once the TWS got canceled, we just put everything we had into the 340 to get her ready. I continued and completed the training with her for the peak training, as well as moral support for her.
The primary two members of Team Risky Business currently hold the fastest finish record for the MR340, and they now wanted to crush the Mixed Team Record as well. The team overall had issues, hurdles, and challenges over the months building towards the race. There needed to be a boat selected for the race and training runs scheduled while in the middle of a pandemic, protests, and riots. They also had a member experience the loss of their mother, while another one was stuck in Mexico from March through July! All of this and more affected the team’s drive and belief that the goal they originally wanted would become a reality. When this happens people often stop talking about their goal or they pivot to a different goal to move away from what might be potential failure in their efforts. I even questioned if they could do it multiple times before the race; however there were two things I knew for sure. We had a boat filled with four people that had multiple TWS finishes, and my wife would be ready for whatever she needed to do.
Much like fighting, when the whistle blew, it was “on.” Everyone from the paddlers to the ground support goes into work mode. The team in the boat pushed to the front of the pack early on while myself and the support crew jumped into action by “leapfrogging” from one access point to the next. Early “pit stops” were close to our planned times; however, they started to stretch a little as the race proceeded. Heat, headwind, and repetitive motions wear on you while you are out on the river. Our arrival times to access points started to backslide little by little to a deficit of 10, 15, 30, and even past 45 minutes behind our projected finish. They needed to snap out of it, or this would continue to snowball and beat us.
I recall one of the turning points as the team rolled into a stop during the darkness of the second morning looking as anyone would if they had paddled over 150 miles non-stop. I pointed and whispered to them in the darkness to keep their voices down because nearby was a three-man boat in their class sleeping. Now was their chance to pass one of the boats they had been chasing and climb forward in the stats. All they had to do is leave now and stay in the boat for as long as they could.
This fire was the first of several that refueled the hunger they had from months prior. They jumped in and pushed persistently into the fog of the night. As the sun took the stage, they pressed on bypassing several boats they were cruising with during the early sections. As their fire burned hotter, they put them in the rearview mirror, permanently! My bank support crew (myself and my daughters) decided to meet up with the other ground support team at their access point to rally, help, and cheer on the paddlers. I had hoped it would motivate them even more, and I believe it did. As they rolled in, they were hot on the tail of the remaining three-man team. They had been chasing them from the early hours of darkness until what was now 5pm. With that team insight, they hungered to put them light years behind. They left hard and fast with the target in sight and didn’t stop. That was the turning point for the team. It provided the excitement they needed to press on and sprint to the finish. The hunger I wanted and hoped for was filling their hearts and fueling their minds again. They bypassed multiple access points, refusing to stop and just kept hammering forward.
We saw them one last time to drop trash as they continue sprinting to the finish. They chased a new time that was still a record finish of 40 hours and 59 minutes. Best of all, they overcame a multitude of challenges that most would have crumbled to on any given day. The team pushed each other beyond their limits, and they bonded together like a team should to get their very own “W.” I am beyond proud of all my teammates and friends from the bank to the boat. We all pushed hard on very little sleep to make sure we could accomplish our goals in this 340-mile race across the state of Missouri. Way to go Team RISKY Business!
Last but not least, I can’t say enough about the woman I married. She’s an inspiration to myself and so many others. I am proud of her for stepping up, pressing forward, and being a backbone, the team could rely on when they needed her the most. She expressed to me multiple things that helped her get ready for this race mentally, physically, and spiritually. The Your 300 Challenge that we reformated for peak performance was at the top of the list. This structure had us building up across 17 weeks into more than 5000 reps per day. She told me the other day how she hated coming home from a long day of work and doing them, but they ultimately made a big difference in the race. She also said working with multiple kettlebell programs, including Kettlebell Kings Double Gains, and Turbo Fat Loss, five days a week gave her the physical strength she needed. These formats, combined with our Kickboxing MMA class, MMA Boot Camps, and a neighborhood run once or twice a week, boosted her endurance as well. All of this preparation would not have been possible without three key elements, which were her desire, dedication, and discipline. These truly helped her reach a personal victory in the MR340 ultra-marathon canoe race.
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Guro Larry, Sonja, Lauren & Tori St. Clair
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