Up Show-Me Creek: Blisters, hellish heat, a boatload of vomit and lots of painkillers. It's all part of the Missouri River 340 race.

Hilary Kelly, who stared down the flatbed of a barge, was finally led out of harm's way by two passing racers. She went on to be the third woman to finish, in just less than 70 hours.

At the edge of the parking lot, Grumpy Old Men loaded up their gear. Despite the scene at the boat ramp, Miller and Stewart spent only a few hours in that hotel room in Columbia. "Then, about 11:30, I said, 'Let's go. We got a race to finish,'" Miller said. When they got back to Cooper's Landing, Miller was still sick. He puked all over a tent as he got out of the van. But when the two Texans got on the water, they felt like racing. They passed 32 boats on their way to St. Charles. By the time their names were called at the awards ceremony, they were already on the Interstate.

Nicole Reinertson

Richard Miller battles mentally and physically to finish the grueling MR340 paddle race.

Nicole Reinertson

Scott Mansker started a race that has become a must-paddle for ultra-kayakers.

Details

Click on the photo for a slideshow from the Missouri River 340.

Click here for Carolyn Szczepanski’s account of how she reported this article and more tales from the race, including Richard Lovell’s fight with the river – and cancer.

Related Content

• Michael Litz and Michael Fox's Bellington Realty cashed in during the boom, but its customers got stuck in the bust
  May 12, 2011
• The Sheldon Presents Jazz, Rock, and Soul: 40 Years of Music in St. Louis, 1968-2008
  September 4, 2008
• The Smoking Gun
  November 12, 2003
• Nuclear Half-Lies
  August 13, 2003

More About

• Scott Mansker
• Hilary Kelly
• Richard Miller
• Christina Glauner
• Outdoor Recreation

Team Texas had easily won the six-man competition. And John Bugge wasn't entirely defeated when his fellow paddlers jumped ship in the middle of the night — Team Belize finished the race with just two men paddling the 350-pound boat from Jefferson City to St. Charles.

For Glauner, the race wasn't over yet. The past two years Glauner couldn't shake a certain postrace depression. It was too much of a shock jumping back into day-to-day life in Lawrence. So this year, she decided to prolong the adventure for a few more sleepless nights.

As other paddlers finally filed out of the parking lot, Glauner hopped on her bike and started pedaling through the dark on the Katy Trail, logging the miles on land that she'd just crossed on the water.

Carolyn Szczepanski is a staff writer at The Pitch, Riverfront Times' sister paper. Contact the author at letters@riverfronttimes.com