Team Spirit of America: Races with dragon boat team on Missouri River

MISSOURI RIVER — Local kayakers Josh Friedman and Julie Kirk set out to break the world record for the longest non-stop voyage of a dragon boat. The pair are part of Pam Am Express which competed in MR340, a 340-mile race on the Missouri River starting in Kansas City, Kan., and finishing near St. Louis, Mo.

For the first time, the race was stopped mid-contest due to severe weather and flooding in the Missouri River. The team had planned to complete the race and travel an additional 30 miles down the Missouri to break the world record for the furthest distance traveled in a dragon boat. Instead, the Pam Am Express set the record for covering the longest distance in a dragon boat in 24 hours, completing 200 miles.

“This caused hazardous conditions on the water for paddlers with lots of debris in the water,” Friedman said.

Friedman and Kirk raced alongside other experienced paddlers to form Pam Am Express, a dragon boat team. They completed 80% of the race, taking first for the dragon boats and finishing third overall out of more than 500 vessels that started the race.

The local duo said it was a successful race despite the weather changes and were happy with what the team accomplished.

Friedman and Kirk said there was a large learning curve when joining the team, as they had never paddled with others before and had limited practice before embarking on the race.

Everyone does things differently, Friedman said. From different paddling styles to different paces and the key to success is having the whole group in sync and for the individual to learn how to adapt and make adjustments on the fly.

Kirk said she learned that she could paddle with a single blade as opposed to the double bladed paddle which she is accustomed to using when kayaking. On the race they used different muscles, which was a challenge, but Kirk and Friedman rose to the occasion, he said.

“We had a lot of horsepower in the boat,” Friedman said, noting the experience and strength the international team members processed. It was his opinion that if the team had more time to practice together and if weather conditions were favorable they would have won the entire contest.

As opposed to riding in a kayak, dragon boat seats were small and uncomfortable, especially for long distances, Kirk said.

Dragon boats are typically used for short distance races, Kirk said. After a grueling 24 hours in the boat, through rain, wind, thunder, high waves and blasting heat, the team had to dig deep and keep going. She added with the narrow benches paddlers had to sit on, she realized why dragon boats are traditionally used for short races.

“The race was punishing, but a lot of fun,” Kirk said. “The dragon boat seemed almost unsinkable, paddling hard and crashing through waves. In a kayak, the weather would have been precarious.”

They paddled out hard with not only the goal to complete the longest voyage in a dragon boat, but also to set the record of the furthest distance traveled in 24 hours.

“We had to sprint the last hour to get the 200 miles completed in time,” Friedman said. “Due to the weather we had to rest the boat on a bank for 20 minutes, and in order to make up the time we missed a couple of our scheduled breaks.”

When the Pam Am Express pulled into the next checkpoint, the race had been called due to the hazardous water and it was mandatory for all vessels to leave the water.

“We didn’t have a clue water was rising,” Kirk said. Rather the team was focused on paddling and navigating through the water looking to the last 70 or so miles of the race.

Friedman said after hitting the 200-mile marker and setting the record, the team was at a low point from exhaustion. Once they made it to the checkpoint and stocked up on supplies, everyone had bounced back and was ready to again get back out and race.

“I thought we would have come back strong,” he said. “When you do things like this, you push yourself hard and have highs and lows. You push through the lows.”

He said like any high performing athlete, when you subject your body to these levels long enough, you push through. He added it was exciting to see other athletes overcome this fight with the mind and body, reminding him of his time as a Navy Seal when members of his platoon came together and overcame physical struggle and rose like a phoenix to accomplish their shared goal. It was something before only Kirk and Friedman shared when out on the water, alone in their kayak, but it was inspiring to see in teammates.

Kirk and Friedman said if they were invited to participate on a dragon boat team again they’d hop at the opportunity.

Kirk and Friedman thanked the support staff for the team, especially Kirk’s daughter. Their hard and critical work of helping the team restock and disembark quickly allowed them to race and set the record.

Kirk and Friedman are interested in completing the MR340 in the future, whether that is in a dragon boat or in a kayak is yet to be decided.

They also thanked Iona and Anna for watching Mountain Mike’s Health Foods while they were out of town and Selkirk Kennels for taking care of their dog.

“We really appreciate the support from the community, it is really special and is something that many of our fellow racers do not have,” Kirk said.