Every year in late August on Labor Day weekend, thousands of people will be drawn to the Fayette County Country Fair in La Grange, Texas. Good times and good food will be had as the smells of funnel cakes, barbeque, and cotton candy fill the air.

Those smells of over-indulgence will drift a few hundred yards towards the Colorado river, where they will meet up with a group of individuals that are involved in anything but tasty indulgences. Those couple hundred people will silently paddle their way past the unaware fair-goers, taking part in their own annual tradition of marathon canoe racing by participating in the Colorado River 100 race.

The Colorado River 100 (CR100) is an relatively new paddling race, having started in 2004. It starts in Bastrop, TX and finishes roughly one hundred miles downriver in Columbus, TX. The race is open to all types of paddling craft, such as kayaks or canoes, solo or tandem, and made from any kind of material you can float. Numerous sub-categories ensure a more level competition between similar craft but the race is essentially open to all human-powered paddling boats.

Besides the various sub-categories of boats, the race offers two main options for competing, the competition class and adventure class.

The adventure class is geared towards those who are in it for the challenge of finishing or may be more recreational paddlers. In addition to finishing the course as fast as possible, adventure racers are required to locate, and punch a series of hidden checkpoints along the river. Failure to punch a checkpoint results in a minor deduction when calculating the rankings of the adventure racing results.

The competition class is geared towards the competitive marathon canoe racer. Only two checkpoints are required for this class, which are not hidden, but found at well-marked official race checkpoint locations. This class usually fields the fastest, lightest, and most competitive racing boats. Along with the higher entry fees of the competition class comes the opportunity to win cash prizes for various first-place finishes in various categories. There are no cash prizes for the adventure class, although at the finisher's awards banquet numerous "door-prizes" are awarded so there is ample opportunity to walk away with some memento of the race.

All this information and more can be found at the official race website: www.ColoradoRiver100.com.

As someone who has been a part of the race every year, whether as a racer or volunteer, I can attest to the fact that this is one of the most well run canoe races in the state of Texas, and should be a priority for those wanting to get their feet wet in the world of marathon canoe racing.

Shorter races abound in the sub-50 mile range, but while those distances sound long, in reality they are more of a sprint in the canoe racing world. On the other end of the spectrum, you have marathon canoe races like the Texas Water Safari, Missouri River 340, and Yukon River Quest, which range from 262 miles to 460 miles in distance! In the middle of this spectrum sits the Colorado River 100, which offers just enough distance to trigger more of an endurance-minded pace, but not so long that it requires huge time investments for training. Indeed many novices enter and finish the CR100 every year.

In addition to the length of the race, the river conditions are not technically difficult. The river is generally wide and free of obstructions. There is the occasional sweeper (tree hanging into the water) to avoid, but the river itself does not present any challenges that a novice paddler could not handle, assuming one is relatively proficient at steering their boat. Sometimes, after watching how some paddlers are steering, I secretly wonder if this is only the second or third time they have paddled, and they are only entering the race on the whim of a personal bet. Truth be told, steering is more important for picking out good lines in the river that maximize current flow, rather than just avoiding obstacles.

One of the biggest challenges the race presents is the Texas heat of late summer. Temperatures can vary but it is not uncommon for the race to occur during blistering sunlight with temperatures flirting with the 100-degree mark. If you are preparing for this race, one of the single biggest things you can do to help you finish is preparing in advance to drink plenty of quality fluids, preferably a good endurance sports mix. Water alone will simply not be enough. Gatorade will get you through it, but it's better to drink something that gives you a tad more nutrition than just sugars and salts. e-Gel Electrolyte Energy Gel and e-Fuel Electrolyte Energy Drink are great options and ones that I have personally used with good results. Once you've decided what you'll drink, spend some time rigging your boat so that your drinking container is secured to the boat. One popular method is to glue in micro-foam blocks with custom-fitted drink container holes. In addition to securing the drink containers, you'll also want to pick up some rubber tubing at Tractor Supply, or any hardware store, to use as a drinking tube. Buy a replacement pack of Camelback, MSR, or Platypus bite-valves from REI and attach one to the drinking end of your tube. The whole idea is that you want to make it effortless for you to be able to drink hands-free while paddling. This ensures you never lose precious speed/time to drink and provides you with more opportunity to drink consistently through the day.

In contrast, on my first ever CR100, I did not have a good setup for my fluids which meant that I had to stop paddling in order to reach for my drink. Naturally this was inconvenient so I avoided it in order to paddle. However by avoiding it, I was simply setting myself up for dehydration and much poorer performance later in the race.

Apart from your fluid intake, you'll also want to eat during the race to add some more non-sugar calories to your diet. What can you eat? Just about anything to give you calories that doesn't upset your stomach, doesn't require a lot of digestion, and is easily consumed in short bursts of eating. Try staying away from proteins, which can be harder for your body to digest, and instead eat foods that provide some fat/carb calories, along with possibly a salty food. Salt is a common electrolyte. I'd recommend bananas, Fritos, maybe some Oreos, but really it is whatever you feel you can stomach during the race. Obviously you can eat a lot of things and still finish the race, but some will get you there feeling better than others.

During my first race, which is a poster-child for what not to do, I had decided upon Cliff-bars as my food of choice. I'm sure they are a fine product, but during the race you simply can not underestimate the difficulty of trying to chew a thick granola bar with a dry mouth, having to spend a couple minutes chewing the food for each bite, and having to hold on to the bar while trying to paddle as you chew furiously. It just didn't work out well. Ideally, you'll have something that sits well on an upset stomach, has calories, has electrolytes, and is easily consumed in bite-size bursts without getting in the way of paddling. Of course, if time is not a factor, you can always stop for a picnic, but be forewarned that the longer you are on the river, the more fatigued you will get, regardless of how many stops you make. Take pit stops as you need them, but realize they become counter-productive at a certain point. If you can do it, paddling through the fatigue is often less painful than stopping and allowing your muscles to stiffen up.

And therein lies the biggest difficulty to this race - your mental strength. A lot of people will have the physical strength to overcome the physical aspects of this race, but do you have the motivation to finish what you started? The race is a long one. There are times where you simply feel you can't paddle another mile, and there are ample opportunities to quit, especially earlier in the race. In my opinion, having the mental toughness to finish what you've started is the single biggest difficulty this race presents you with.

I often tell people that the hardest parts of the race are the first five miles and the last five miles. The first five are tough because your muscles are cold and you'll question whether you can make it even ten miles. After you settle into the race, you usually go numb and just accept the paddling that is before you, that is, until you near the end of the race, and the only thing that consumes your thoughts is quitting at the finish line. The last five miles provide huge motivation to finish, but there certainly is an evil preoccupation with all your pain those last few miles and how good it will feel to be done with it all.

In addition to the start and finish, there is one other point that typically is a turning point for most folks. That point is the La Grange checkpoint, which is situated about 60 miles from the start. The reason I classify it as a turning point is because you have just paddled 60 miles. You are tired. Your body is begging for relief. Ahead of you is the last 40 miles of the race. However, unlike the first 60 miles, there will be no more manned checkpoints until you finish. You will have no opportunity, unless under severe medical duress, to quit the race. Added to all this is the fact that you will likely paddle most, if not all, of this section at night. More than likely you will be alone on the river during most of it as your fellow paddlers are now scattered out at longer intervals along the river. During the dusk hours especially, swarming bugs will attempt to crawl into any open crevice on your face. You will not be receiving any water, food, or assistance since there are no access points (except for emergency medical). Now, I don't want to make it sound too scary. I am simply pointing out what is likely to run through the novice's mind when he pulls into the La Grange checkpoint and makes that critical decision to not quit and instead commit to finishing the race. Many people who do quit will do so at this checkpoint. Not giving in to that temptation is an achievement. Of course, if this is your first race, I'm sorry you are reading this because sometimes ignorance is bliss, as was the case my first year.

So, given all these headaches, why would anyone want to run this race? Well, maybe some enjoy the competitive side of life. Some might enjoy the challenge of just finishing. Others might wander into it out of ignorance. Whatever the reason, however, I can tell you that finishing the race will bring you a deep level of satisfaction in your accomplishment and a renewed outlook on life that you can accomplish whatever you set your mind to. Those feelings are golden and for me, the price of a sweaty day of paddling makes it a bargain. Sure you might not want to get anywhere near a boat or water for a while after finishing, but I tend to find the majority of my feelings are ones of intense satisfaction. Eventually you get that itch to climb back into the boat and do it all over again.

If you've ever wanted to try marathon canoe racing, and you live near Texas, this is the best race, in my opinion to get introduced to it. The race is well run, with plenty of information, and the coordinator, Mike Drost, has simply got a fantastic thing going here for those who are interested.

See you on the river.