53rd Annual White River Canoe Race underway

Officials described the weather conditions for the 53rd Annual White River Canoe Race as “superb.” The three-day event kicked off Thursday morning at Cotter.

In inviting the community to the kick-off, Friends of the Rivers noted the adventure is billed as one of the most unique, challenging and fun scouting events in the country.The National White River Canoe Race travels down some of the most scenic country in America. The race is an adventure of over 100 miles from the heart of the Ozark Mountains near Bull Shoals Lake to the foothills of Batesville. 

Boy Scouts of America says after the start, the vehicles with the extra paddlers take off for Cotter City Park boat ramp to be ready for the first change out. The first leg of the race takes between one hour 45 minutes to two hours 15 minutes.

Once the first paddlers come in, they get out of the canoe and the second set of two paddlers get in and are off to Buffalo City the site of the second change out. The heat to Buffalo City takes a little shorter time than the first leg.

The last leg is from Buffalo City to Norfork. This leg is even shorter than the second leg. The race clock continues to run during all three heats.

The second day starts where the first day ended at Norfork. The change out Friday is at Calico Rock. The fourth leg from North Fork to Calico takes about two hours. The fifth leg from Calico to Sylamore takes about the same amount of time. After everyone is in, the canoeists camp nearby at the Sylamore Creek Campground.

The third day on Saturday is the hardest paddling day of all. The water has slowed down and the river is wider. The first leg is 21 miles from the Sylamore boat ramp to Dam No. 3 where the canoes clock out.

This will be the longest leg of the race and may take teams over three hours to complete.

The canoes must be quickly removed from the water once they pass the finish line and clock out. The canoes will be carried by their teams members and adults to the put-in below Dam No. 3.

Once all the canoes are in and there is a short rest, the seventh leg starts below Dam No. 3 and goes to Dam No. 2.

Approaches to the dam are handled like before and the canoes and safety boats are carried around the dam and put in just below Dam No. 2. After all the canoes are in and after a short rest, the scouts start the last leg of the race to Batesville. The eighth leg is 8.8 miles.

The canoes should finish the race on Saturday around 3 p.m.

The White River Canoe Race website White River Canoe Race
features complete information about the annual event, including archives.

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