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Mississippi River Ultra Marathons for Rett Syndrome (2001) and Rett Syndrome & Leukodystrophy (2003)
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 2001 Race - May 11, 2001, Friday
The Great Mississippi River Race for Rett Syndrome, May 2001

We are Going the Extra Mile..... The Extra 2,348 Miles to Find a Cure!
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Teams called in to Safety Officer between 5 and 7 AM
Team Name Time Called River Mile Nearest City/State Estimated Position
Alaska MSC 5:30 AM Mile 994 Crow Wing State Park, MN 3rd or 4th
Amazons 7:15 AM Mile 994 Crow Wing State Park, MN 3rd or 4th
Double Helix 6:55 AM Mile 840 Mpls, MN Team stationary, river closed Tied 1st & 2nd
Kruger no call Mile 840 Mpls, MN Team stationary, river closed Tied 1st & 2nd
Rebels 7 AM Mile 1032 Crosby, MN 5th
Updates/Comments Received for May 11, 2001, AM:
From Safety Officer Elizabeth Tynan, taking 5-7 AM calls


Team Alaska:
Kerm called at 7:00 to say that his team had pushed off from Crow Wing State Park, river mile 994, at 5:30.


Team Amazons:
At 7:15, Tony reported that Cynthia and Megan were just leaving from Crow Wing State Park, river mile 994.


Team Double Helix:
The blueberry morning from SuperAmerica had worn off
by 6:55 today. Andrew called in the midst of a deep slumber. . . thank goodness the team is getting some sleep, now that they are stopped at the Hwy 694 take-out--just above where the river is/was closed, at river mile 840.

Team Kruger
Did not call in.


Team Rebels:
​
Eric called at 5:30 from "The North Country," a downtown diner in Crosby, MN. He was wowing the locals even as we spoke, who couldn't figure out how he could be talking on a phone when that area doesn't have any cell phone service. I could just see the plates of fresh farm eggs, glistening with butter right out of the skillet, slim sausages, and crisp homemade hashbrowns on pre-warmed plates. . . I don't want Eric to call me from downtown diners anymore before breakfast.


He said he and his team, not to be outdone by madcap racers at the head of the pack, were solemnly saluted yesterday by a huge herd of heifers who lowed long and mightily at the sight of such strange goings-on in their little piece of Minnesota. I said recognition and respect sometimes come from where--and whom--we least expect. At any rate, it brightened their spirits considerably.

On a navigational note, Eric says they don't really need charts to find their way down the Mississippi anymore, now that they have figured out to just follow the trail "bread crumbs" - mud hen houses that the Corps has established for the preservation of that species--ever so much easier that messing with maps.
​

They were planning to leave at 7:00 from river mile 1032. That is, IF they didn't order another serving of hash browns. They take awhile. 

END OF SAFETY REPORT

Webmaster/Mary Potter -

On May 10, 2001,  in the afternoon, time obstacle 1 occurs today for Teams Kruger and Double Helix only.
Team Kruger and Team Double Helix are forced off the water above St. Anothony's Falls by the Coast Guards because Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam is closed.   Both teams stop at Ketter's canoes initially.   At some point later, or perhaps on May 11, Kent Spading (Team Double Helix, and employed at the Army Corp of Engineers) was able to find out it would open at 12 noon May 11.    Both teams elected to wait where they were rather than walk miles and miles in an attempt to portage.   Other sections of the river nearby may have been closed as well.    These teams are now tied for first place.  Rules 1 and 2 indicate a non stop non staged race.    I heard later from Clark that both teams left together at 12 noon, but are not required to travel together. 

Picture
Teams called in to Safety Officer between 5 and 7 PM
Team Name Time Called River Mile Nearest City/State Estimated Position
Alaska MSC 7:55 PM St. Cloud, MN 3rd or 4th
Amazons 4:45 PM Sartell, MN north of St. Cloud 3rd or 4th, at hospital
Double Helix 6:20 PM Lock Dam #2, Hastings MN 1st or 2nd
Kruger 6:40 PM Mile 816 Hastings, MN 1st or 2nd
Rebels 7:05 PM Mile 963 near Blanchard Dam, MN 5th
Updates/Comments Received for May 11, 2001, PM:
From Don Keller, official time keeper, taking 5-7 PM calls, May 10:


Team Alaska -
by St. Cloud, 7:55 PM


Team Amazon
4:45 Tony reported they were at Sartell., above St. Cloud. A paddler has bad blisters and a particularly swollen finger and will seek medical treatment.
Note: I did NOT talk about the river opening OR being closed way below their current position.


Team Double Helix
6:20 Location: Lock & Dam # 2 Hastings
Andrew said team somewhere up above The teams paddled together through the Twin Cities, then he thinks Double Helix pulled out ahead.
Please note team resumed race at 12 noon Central Time when Lock and Dam 1 officially opened.


Team Kruger
6:40 River Miles 815
Stan -at Hastings. Team about 5 miles above.   Verlen hand was swollen and splits in his fingers. Stan got him some Skin Shield and Moisturizer. At Upper St. Anthony Verlen showed Helix how to lock through. Clark gave Verlen his paddling gloves. A local volunteer went to REI in Minnie and bought two pairs of paddling gloves. Only one pair of small gloves left in the store. Stan says you can go to pharmacy and get white cotton gloves. Please note team resumed race at 12 noon Central Time when Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam officially opened.


Team Rebels
​ 7:05 River Miles 963
Going at least to Blanchard. Earlier in the week, (last night ?) Eric met an REI guy at Crow state park who took some pictures of the team. The REI guy is putting together a talk on the Mississippi River. Note: I did NOT talk about the river opening OR being closed way below their current position.

END OF SAFETY REPORT
Webmaster's Note: I don't have logs from everyone, but I'll share what I do have...  

Team Kruger - Bob Bradford Daily Log, Enhanced by Stan Hanson, Friday, May 11, 2001

On the morning of May 11th, I took a long, hot bath after breakfast at Ketter's place. At noon, after a 20-hour stop, the Coast Guard let us go. Todd Ellison, a Minnesota racer, paddled down to St. Anthony's with us. The Double Helix locked through with us. This was my first time to ever lock through. Verlen had done it many times.
 
 After Lock and Dam #1, below St. Anthony's, Verlen developed stomach cramps, so we pulled over to the left bank and Verlen took care of business.    Meanwhile, Double Helix took over first place. This was their first time to lead the race after six days. Even though we had a 20-hour layover, none of the other teams caught us.
 
 Later we would find out that Team Alaska had capsized at Sauk Rapids and lost their kayak.   Team Amazon had problems with infected blisters on one of the paddler's hands and withdrew from the race under doctor's orders.
 
At river mile marker 831, Tom Gardner, another Minnesota canoe racer, joined us. Tom paddled down to his place on the river. It's always a lift when you can paddle along with friends when you're in a long race.
 
By 8:00 p.m., we were at Lock and Dam #2 at Hastings. I think it was at Redwing that I found out that even though Verlen has good eyesight, he has problems seeing at night. I was sound asleep in the bow when our canoe hit a large, green metal buoy. I popped up in a hurry! The sound was still reverberating in my head. I decided I would paddle during the night and sleep an hour at dusk and a few hours in the  morning.
 
The next body of water that we would need a support boat on was Lake Pepin. We reached it on the evening of May 11th. The plan was for our support crew to share Double Helix's support boat, with Stan riding along with it. It took forever to get the support boat ready when we arrived. The boat ramp was flooded and it was dark. After 45 minutes, we took off with Team Kruger and Double Helix together, and the support boat close behind. There was a little wind, and it was a clear night. It got cold. Verlen was asleep and so was the Double Helix's Kurt Zimmermann. The stars made it easy to keep on course and I felt especially good. At one point, we had edged out ahead a little. Then I noticed that the support boat and Double Helix seemed to get off course a bit. After an hour, I noticed they had dropped way back. We later learned that they stopped so Kurt could get up and help Clark paddle.

End of Team Kruger Log, Friday, May 11, 2001

Kent Spading Log, From Team Double Helix, May 11, 2001

I drove from work to Hastings, MN at L/D 2 to meet Andrew, Eric, Tony, Hans and Edith.  6:15 PM I arrived, sunny, nice out.   Clark and Kurt showed up at 6:30 and at 7:30 PM Kruger came by.    We fed Clark and Kurt and they changed clothes.   They asked me to go to Red Wing with them to help launch the Zodiac.   I rode to Red Wing with Andrew.  Both teams will cross Lake Pepin together with the Zodiac.  

Clark and Kurt are in a kayak called the Double Helix.   Verlen Kruger and Bob Bradford are in a Kruger Canoe.   We have team Helix and Team Kruger.   The other 3 teams, - Alaska, Rebels and the Amazons are still up north.   We drove to Lake Pepin and met the Kruger team there.   We found a flooded boat landing.   We tried to get into L/# 3 but no luck – it was backed up.  Andrew and I met the others at a Perkins so Andrew could plug in laptop.  

The 2 teams will cross Lake Pepin together with the zodiac power boat for safety reasons.   We had to physically pull the zodiac off the trailer as the water in the flooded parking lot was not deep enough.
 The land team looks very tired.   Clark and Kurt by contrast appear to be pumped up.  Eric M. of the land team was capturing video of the paddlers as well. 

End of Kent Spading Log, From Team Double Helix, May 11, 2001


Team Amazon Log - by Cynthia Belbin, Friday, May 11, 2001
This morning is a bit of a blur. My one finger was swelling up, and I was looking forward to getting some ice on it when the day was done. It didn't appear to be anything serious. The rest of my blisters were healing, hopefully turning to callous. The Alaskans said we would blister twice then callous.

We reached Little Falls portage neck in neck with Alaska who had an earlier start on us. It was quite a successful portage. The eddies from this dam were something else; it took us three tries to get out...I thought something was wrong with the rudder that made it so hard but we got through. Once we were through there was in fact something wrong. We pulled off at a golf course to fix it, we needed our tools, unfortunately they were mistakenly left in the car.

I asked Megan if she could rebandage my finger as everyone had done before but this time it was different, the swelling was really bad and Megan knew it; I was going to have to get some treatment somewhere. We struggled to get our boat to the nearest boat launch, our rudder needed repairing again.

Again Eric came to the rescue. He was supposed to go home in a couple days and he has been a scientific genius on a number of fronts; we will miss him. We paddle on. I started to not feel well. I thought I was coming down with a cold and I had the shakes. I didn’t stop paddling at all so I wouldn’t get cold. I couldn’t imagine what a miserable experience this would be with a cold. I drank my water like crazy to get the toxins out.

Near St. Cloud we had a number of portages where we used Eric’s wheels. We contemplated going through the rapids above St. Cloud but I was glad we did not. They looked like a maneuvering nightmare. We paddled to the dam at St. Cloud and called it a day. The next day was opening day for the fishing season in Minnesota. We were going to take a half day off after about 60km.

​As mentioned earlier we were going to go for treatment for my hand. Our phone team had called the fire department and the hospitals. We decided to go to the hospital even though the fire department really wanted to help. At the hospital we were looking for treatment and then we would be on our way. The doctors looked at the finger and seemed hopeful that I would be OK but when they saw the infection going up my arm that was it...our adventure together as the Amazons was over. It was terrible news; our boat was just starting to shine, our bodies were getting accustomed to paddling all day, and the miles were starting to add up.

Can you believe my hospital room had a view of the Mississippi! But nonetheless, I am glad that I still have all my fingers and that Megan is as strong as iron when it comes to adversity; she found positive in the negative. Perhaps another day..... Megan was still in great form. We talked over her options. I thought she should go in a K-1, but both the Rebels and Alaska were scouting her to join their team. She decided to join Alaska. 

End of Team Amazon Log - by Cynthia Belbin, Friday, May 11, 2001
May 10, 2001 Thu
May 12 2001, Sat
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