May 31 2001 27 Thursday

2001 Race - May 31, 2001, Thursday
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!

Team Name	Time Called	River Mile	Nearest City/State	Estimated Position
Alaska MSC	4 PM	Mile 710	Tennessee	THIRD PLACE FINAL
Amazons	Withdraws 5/12/01		Stops near St. Cloud, MN	FIFTH PLACE FINAL
Double Helix	about 12:40 PM	Mile 0	Venice LA	SECOND PLACE FINAL
Kruger		Mile 0	May 27, 2001 Sunday	FIRST PLACE
Rebels	Withdraws 5/13/01		Stops near Monticello, MN	FORTH PLACE FINAL

Webmaster's Note/Event Organizer Mary Potter:
Kerm Ketchum from Team Alaska called around 4 PM and said the team was pulling out at mile 707. The weather was quite bad at that time, thunder, lightening, heavy winds and rain. Talk about going out in style :-) Tony and Will will head down to the celebration in New Orleans. Teams will stay at the Marriot Hotel in New Orleans, courtesy of the Marriot and will receive a no or very low cost celebration meal at the Hard Rock Cafe in New Orleans.
Andrew M. Gribble called from Team Double Helix to say they had just crossed the finish line! The road crew was on board the Parrish Boat (lined up by Don Keller, official race time keeper) and Andrew said as the paddlers crossed the line the sirens blared and everyone cheered! Thanks much to the folks who operate and run the Parrish Boat for their critical donation of time, crew and ship for our very tired teams as they crossed the finish line! Clark Eid (husband, and paddler for Team Double Helix) called about 10 minutes later to say "We're done!"

Mary Potter/Webmaster reports:
Records Set During this Ultra Marathon Race

Verlen Kruger and Bob Bradford of Team Kruger won 1st place at 24 Days, 17 hours and 51 minutes in their Kruger Canoe.
Clark Eid and Kurt Zimmermann of Team Double Helix won 2nd place and set a world record for fastest time paddling the entire Mississsippi river in a kayak - 26 Days, 6 Hours and 40 Minutes. All prior record holders used a canoe.
“The Great Mississippi River Race for Rett Syndrome, 2001" set an unofficial World record for the longest non-stop Canoe/ Kayak Race. An application will be made to Guinness World Records for recognition as the "longest continuous canoe and kayak race" in the near future. No other continuous canoe and kayak race comes close!
Verlen Kruger set a new record for person to completely paddle the entire Mississippi River 3 times - twice down, once up.
Verlen Kruger, then at age 78, set a record for the oldest person to paddle the entire Mississippi River at that time (since broken by Dale Sanders, at age 80)