Paddling toward October return
Story by Paul South
Submitted and Archive photos
The Great Alabama 650 is the Iron Bowl, Talladega 500 and marathons all rolled into one 10-day event, the world’s longest annual paddle race
Alabama’s most grueling sporting event is longer than the big races at Talladega and takes more time to win than the Iron Bowl.
Its competitors toil, sometimes night and day, in all kinds of weather, from waters coursing through the Appalachian foothills to Mobile Bay. In some stretches, the only spectators may be a leaping largemouth bass, a great blue heron or the occasional trail angel, good Samaritan volunteers along the course who offer help, water, food and cheers.
While boos and razzing may be college football and NASCAR cultural commonalities, a discouraging word is never heard in this under-the radar-but-growing competition.
So it is for The Great Alabama 650. It is the world’s longest annual paddle race at 650 miles over 10 days, attracting an international field of 20. It is a celebration of Alabama’s waterways and the wonder of the human spirit.
The word, “annual,” is key. The Yukon 1,000 may be longer, but it occurs every other year.
The Coosa River, along with its companion Logan Martin and Neely Henry lakes, is a key stretch of the course. This year’s race is set for Oct. 1-11.
Birmingham native Greg Wingo has been race director of the blossoming event since its inception in 2019. The event may have been one of the few international sporting events not hampered by the pandemic. In its brief history, paddlers have come from the United States, Canada and Europe.
The small field – and the built-in social distancing of the event – allowed the race to carry on in the dark days of the coronavirus and its variants, Wingo says.
“Immediately, once the race starts, no one is really able to see each other, so we were able to put it on when all the other races were having to postpone or cancel completely.”
There are 20 paddle races across the globe that are designated as qualifying races for the Great Alabama 650. Racers have to compete in one of those events in the past five years in order to take on Alabama’s rivers. The ability to complete those races is an indicator of a paddler’s ability to finish in Alabama.
“I always feel really confident that once they finish one of these qualifiers, they have a decent idea of what they’re going to experience in this race,” Wingo says.
The event showcases the Alabama Scenic River Trail, the latest chapter in the state’s love affair with its rivers, from the Tennessee to the Tensaw, the Coosa to the Cahaba. As every Alabamian of a certain age might recall, Alabama’s rivers played a key role in the state song written by social reformer Julia Tutwiler.
As for The Great Alabama 650, the race course runs from Weiss Lake in Northeast Alabama to Fort Morgan on the Gulf Coast.
Last year the team of Paul Cox and Joe Mann shattered event records, finishing the race in four days, 17 hours and eight minutes. Salli (cq) O’Donnell won the women’s solo competition with a time of four days, 22 hours and 39 minutes.
Paddlers compete in three divisions: male solo, female solo and two-person team. Racers can use kayaks, canoes or stand-up paddleboards interchangeably.
There are intangibles that have made the race so popular for paddle fans. Each year, spectator numbers grow.
“No. 1, people in this state are always supportive of people that come into their state to experience it, whether they are coming here to support the World Games … or whether they’re coming here for Talladega, or coming here for a football game,” Wingo says. “Whatever it is – I guess the easy answer is Southern hospitality – there’s just something about the people who get excited when people visit this state and are here to enjoy it.”
He adds, “In the last few years, once people started to realize it was happening, it did start to snowball and grow, especially in the first third of the race when you’re going through some major population bases on the Coosa. There’s just a huge turnout year after year along the different lakes.”
On the Coosa, Gadsden’s Riverwalk near Buffalo Wild Wings is a great spot for spectators, and the Alabama Power-built park near Logan Martin Dam is a portage, also a great spot. Area portages are at mile 88 of the race on Neely Henry and mile 135 on Logan Martin.
Fans can also follow the race – and racers – on its website, that has drawn more than a million hits, many of them from schoolchildren who follow their favorites through tracking devices on the racers, Alabama Scenic River Trail Board President Sam Howell says.
“From Northport, Ala., to Norway, you can be involved in The Great Alabama 650,” Howell says.
The race itself – as it relates to the competitors – is unique, and not only because of the distance.
“There are elements of this race that don’t exist anywhere else. And so, the racers themselves will talk very positively about the experience of being in Alabama, and I think the more that people who live here hear that, they get more excited about it … That has really helped it grow and grow.”
Another feature: Paddlers encounter every type of water, from calm Coosa waters to whitewater near Wetumpka. There’s tidal water on the coast and bay water. Competitors are allowed to change boats depending on the water. Like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates, they never know what they’re going to get,
“About 85 % of this race is flat water, with essentially no flow whatsoever. When the racers come to do this race, they’re not getting the assistance of the river flowing at four or five mph to give them a break and allow them to be able to move. If they stop paddling, they stop moving. And in a race that lasts up to 10 days, no movement means lost time. Very few races in the world are of such duration.
So, racers that come to do this race find out pretty quickly … there’s no easy gimme to this race … It’s a vastly more different race than any in the world. No other race can give you all the things this race has.”
But The Great Alabama 650, like every other endurance race, has more than its share of grit and goodness.
“Trail angels” pitch in to help competitors at portages along the route, fans cheer and paddlers push through the changing waters, often going days without sleep.
“We have an amazing group of people along the river that want to be out there throwing competitors a banana or a beer or whatever … That’s another thing that truly makes us unique,” Wingo says.
And as for grit, consider Texan Martha Avila Adame. She is a breast cancer survivor who competed in last year’s race, even without a lateral muscle in her back, a pivotal body part for any paddler.
Cox and Mann slept a total of six hours on the way to their 2021 tandem win.
And Alabama Scenic River Trail Communications Director Laura Gaddy remembered her post-race encounter with Floridian Salli O’Donnell, the women’s solo winner who has developed a bit of a fan base at the 650.
Where the thumb met the palm of one of O’ Donnell’s hands, Gaddy noticed a battle scar – a blister the size of a half-dollar.
Wingo sums up the race and its athletes. “There is a section of endurance athletes that thrive on events like this.”
For more information on The Great Alabama 650, go to alabamascenicrivertrail.com.
