Karl Teske of North Aurora is a member of the St. Charles Canoe Club who elected to show some of his skills Saturday morning during the 59th Mid-America Canoe and Kayak Race on the Fox River.
“I’ve been coming to this race for decades. It’s just something that I’ve been doing since I can remember,” he said. “We’ve got a bunch of people from our club and we’re always out here doing this together.”
Fox Valley Park District officials continue to regard the race as one of the year’s recreational highlights in the area.
As always, Fox River water levels were carefully monitored right up to race time and on late Friday afternoon, new race director Lynn Piotrowski, facility manager at the Prisco Community Center in Aurora, declared things a go.
She added that thanks to a last-minute push, race participation this year was up by about 5% over a year ago.
“There is always an outpouring of last-minute registration and we now have 230 boats and 350 participants,” Piotrowski said before the race.
Saturday’s rain was not going to impede the event, Piotrowski said.
“We are running the race rain or shine,” she said.
A new wrinkle was added to the race this year as construction on the Island Park pedestrian and railroad bridge that crosses the Fox River in Geneva forced officials to move the location of the launch site for the long course race from Mt. St. Mary’s Park in St. Charles to Fabyan Forest Preserve in Geneva.
Piotrowski said the move meant “some of the more serious racers will have to adjust this year.”
“There are people who keep absolute track of their race times from year-to-year so, of course, this year will be different,” she said.
Jennifer Miksula of Montgomery said this was her second year participating in the race and that, regarding the new launch point, “I think with the new bridge construction, safety’s the key.”
“You definitely have to be careful and there are people that are new to it so I think it’s a smart move,” she said of the race. “For me it’s just about doing things with friends. I’m part of the St. Charles Canoe Club so this is something that we do so it’s pretty local.”
Teske said he was a little disappointed about the change in launch area.
“A good paddler shouldn’t have any problem going through upstream there,” he said.
Teske dismissed the issue of veterans like himself not being able to compare this year’s race time to others because “a race is a race.”
“So what? A race is a race and you got to show up in order to win it or place,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how long.”
Joe Welsh of North Aurora said this was his first year participating in the Fox River race even though he and his family have been canoeing for years.
“We’ve since gotten rid of all of our canoes so our friends provided us with theirs,” he said. “Our only strategy is to survive and trail our friends before we take them at the end.”
Carl Lankenau of Warrenville furnished Welsh and crew with their canoes and said for him, “We have done the race maybe 15 to 20 times.”
“We actually took first place last year with my daughter in the mixed couples,” Lankenau said.
Lankenau said he was more than content with moving the launch point from St. Charles to Geneva.
“We looked at the railroad bridge and it would have been dangerous for novices as there is only one passageway through in the middle, so I think, in the interest of safety, it’s no big deal,” he said. “At least everyone is out here having a good time still.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
