HOULTON, Maine — Just about an hour into the race, the first kayak rounded the river’s bend, parallel to Route 2A, headed toward Houlton in the last stretch of the Meduxnekeag River Canoe Race on Saturday.
Kayaker Fred Ludwig was the first to reach the curve at 11:05 a.m. The race began in New Limerick at 10 a.m. Ludwig finished first in the K-1 Long section, with a 1:20:42 time.
The early paddlers were determined and moving fast with the current. But as the morning slipped toward noon, the final competitors were more weary with shouts to onlookers along the top of the river bank.
“Is this the last bend?” one asked. “They keep saying, this is the last curve, and then there’s another.”
“This is exhausting,” a paddle boarder called out to cheering onlookers.
The Meduxnekeag River Canoe Race is the seventh in the 2023 Maine Canoe and Kayak Racing Organization Down River Point Series.
It is a decades-old Houlton harbinger of spring, said Peter Blood, who has raced this river for nearly four decades.
Blood, 77, and his racing partner, Clint Cushman, won first place in the 1996 Maine Canoe and Kayak Racing Organization Down River Point Series with 35 points.
The whitewater racing season began in late March with the St. George River Race. The Meduxnekeag River Canoe Race and the Sandy River Canoe Kayak Race in Farmington, both held on Saturday, end the Down River Point Series.
Ninety-seven paddlers from around the state ran the course, with the final paddlers crossing the finish line at about 12:30 p.m. The first place finishers in each category include: K-1 Short, Brian Foley, 1:29:41; K-1 Long, Fred Ludwig, 1:20:42; K-1 Short, Women, Suzanne Hiltz, 2:06:12; OC-1 Men, Jeff Owen, 1:22:38; OC-2 Med, Marc Rancol/Chip Loring, 1:29:08; OC-2 Mixed, John Neptune/Rhonda London, 1:41:20; OC-2 Med Mixed, Chris Dalton/Nicki Franz, 1:34:57; Open Paddleboard, Emmanuel Buss, 1:48:10; Law Enforcement, Aaron Cross/Chad Robertson, 1:30:10; High School, Gage Osgood/Derrick Golding, 1:44:26; Recreational Experienced, Brian Galipeau, 1:39:48; Recreational: K-1 Short, Larry Merrill, 1:40:59; OC-1 Men, Mike Timberlake, 1:57:51; OC-2 Med, Tim Cady/Mark Jones, 1:34:02; Open with kids, Ted Michael/Nathanial Sussman, 1:37:45; Century, Jeff Raymond/Jodie Raymond, 1:49:05.
Experienced paddlers competed for points in the Down River Points Series, and recreational paddlers came out to have fun and be challenged. Many racing teams were made up of a parent and child, and some teams included several generations paddling in one canoe.
A group of 10 students and instructors from East Grand School in Danforth competed in Saturday’s race. As part of the school’s outdoor education program the students are required to compete in two spring races.
The race started at Lynwood Wellington’s house on the Station Road in New Limerick and ended at Houlton’s Gateway Bridge and Riverfront Park, where competitors were served lunch and presented with awards by race organizer Greater Houlton Chamber of Commerce.