The Meduxnekeag River Canoe Race Continues Its Annual Tradition

Houlton, Maine (WAGM) - Weather has been a factor in sporting events this week, but hasn’t been able to put a stop to the MUH-DUX-NUH-KEG river canoe race that will be going on tomorrow.

Jane Torres- " This is considered a macro points race, so we get a lot of professional paddlers here that do it for points and they go all over the state. It’s part recreational, part student, part really professional. People love it though, we kind of go above and beyond”.

Started by Ricker College more than 40 years ago, The Meduxnekeag river canoe race has been one for paddlers of all ages to compete in. Whether it be professional or recreational, people come out for the event, the free food, and the opportunities to win prizes. One big prize in particular.

Jane Torres- “Our Big deal after the award ceremony is that we..give out potatoes. so..we..; Anybody that comes to us from outside the county, there the first ones, They get a bag of potatoes that’s been donated by nature’s circles farms”.

Organizers say they are expecting at least 40 teams to attend. And while weather is a concern, Torres says it would only affect the number of recreational racers, not those competing professionally.

Jane Torres- “You see a little bit of a fluctuation in numbers, The people who are in it for more recreational purposes, there not so excited about going down when the waters what, 40-50 degrees; But, for the professionals that come, they don’t care”.

Torres says over the years this event has seen a lot of success.

Jane Torres- " I think its because we make it such an event, its not only about the paddling its that, we really celebrate the people that come out for this. you know its gone through many iterations in its history you know it used to be one big party and its kind of become back to being..very safe”.

For those competing in this event, Torres emphasizes the importance of the 9:30 safety briefing.

Jane Torres- “So one of our very experienced paddlers, he’s been a years here, and he always does a race briefing so he heads down the river and checked it out, and he knows all of those points people might run into trouble, you know when they get into the whitewater, do they want to stay right, do they want to stay left (dissolves to) if people aren’t there at 9:30 for the race briefing, they dont...we dont actually allow them to run the race”.

The race begins at 10 AM Saturday at Wellington’s on the Station Road in New Limerick.

Jonathon Eigenmann NewsSource sports.

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