Flatwater paddling is a way of life in the Great Lakes, from Minnesotato New York. Each fall, hundreds of canoe enthusiasts gather from allover the region for Fall’s last big race: New York’s 90 Mile CanoeClassic. For the first time this year, eight women decided to formtheir own war canoe team, challenging the men’s champion teamhead-to-head. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Brian Mann reports,their three-day journey was as much about friendship as it was aboutmaking time:
Transcript
Flatwater paddling is a way of life in the Great Lakes, from Minnesota
to New York. Each fall, hundreds of canoe enthusiasts gather from all
over the region for Fall’s last big race: New York’s 90 Mile Canoe
Classic. For the first time this year, eight women decided to form
their own war canoe team, challenging the men’s champion team
head-to-head. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Brian Mann reports, their three-
day journey was as much about friendship as it was about making time.
(Ambient bed: door opens, party sounds)
It’s late on a Thursday evening – the night before the 90 mile race gets
underway – and folks are gathering at the home of Beth and Dan Tickner
in Old Forge, New York.
“Welcome, did you eat?”
“Yes, I sure did.”
“Alright, nice to
see you. Let me move the baby out of the way.”
People are having fun, but the mood here is a little tense. This year,
Dan and Beth are racing in separate war canoes. Beth has teamed up with
an old friend, Grace McDonnell, to build the first all-women war canoe
team.
“We’re eight women who are completely athletic and totally
competitive, but our main objective is to have fun.”
“Isn’t that awesome on the car.”
(Outdoor Ambient Noise)
It’s after nine o’clock, when Grace arrives at the Tickner’s with the
war canoe strapped on top of her mini-van. The boat is enormous – 26
feet long – and beautiful. War canoes are a tradition in the Northeast.
The earliest models, made of hide and bark, were used throughout the
Great Lakes by Indians and French Canadian trappers. In this century,
aluminum war canoes have been a favorite for kids at the region’s summer
camps.
This boat isn’t aluminum. It’s state-of-the-art, cedar wood strips
coated with layers of fiberglass.
“I better take my high heel sandals off.”
“Yeah, you better.”
As the women gather around to lift the war canoe, their flashlights
gleam and spark against its side.
“Okay, back up. Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!”
Forming an all-women’s war canoe team is an idea that first started
brewing a decade ago, Grace says, when she and Beth crewed together in a
guide-boat.
“Both of us had small kids and nursing and mothering, so we
put it off until the year 2000. And so, here it is, the year 2000.”
The women are a new team. This is their first race together and they’ve
only practiced a couple of times, but their canoe is built for speed.
For all its length, this boat weighs only 160 pounds.
“One of our competition, who is also Beth’s husband, has a
war canoe that weighs, they estimate, about 350 pounds. So we have an
advantage.”
“They’re scared. They’re really scared. Our boat is
definitely faster, but they’re great guys and we know it’s going to be a
tremendous amount of fun and a great race.”
(Crowd Ambience)
“Hi, how you doing, kiddos?”
It’s Friday morning. Race day. The public beach at Old Forge is packed
with boats and racers and hundreds of fans who’ve turned out for the
spectacle. Grace’s daughter Jen wears pigtails and a ballcap turned
backwards on her head. Though just seventeen years old, this will be
her third 90 mile race.
“I think it’s going to be even more fun, because then
there’s six people to chat and giggle and laugh with and then yell and
scream at.”
“This is like the family station wagon and they’ve got the
Corvette.”
Dan Tickner is Beth’s husband. This will be his twelfth Canoe Classic.
One year, he ran the race in a guideboat with Beth as his passenger.
She was 8 months pregnant at the time. But over the next three days,
they’ll go head-to-head.
“It’s more fun, but I’d have a hard time living with a
wife who beat me in a war canoe, eight women against eight men. So
we’re looking for first place.”
“Good luck, guys.” “Hey, good luck!” Whoo-whoo-whoo!”
(Paddling and boating ambience)
With that, the eight women are off. They lean and dig at the water in
tandem, forcing their boat into motion. The four war canoes spread out
over the water, churning north and east. In addition to the long
stretches they’ll travel on lakes and rivers, their war canoe will have
to go over-land for miles, the boat and gear carried on their shoulders.
(Splashing feet at carry ambience)
A few hours later, the women have reached one of the dozen or so
portages that divide the 90-miler.
(Ambient voices gasping and cheering)
“Got it. Ready, set, go!”
If this is a story about a race, it’s also a story about friendship –
these eight friends working and struggling together.
“Everybody breathe! Hoah! Whoo hoo hoo!”
The crowds love it. The weather is perfect. People turn out at each of
the carries to cheer the women on.
(Cheering and thrashing water ambience)
The women’s team does well the first day and as they head into day two,
they’re running in second place, hard behind the men’s team. Brian
Vanderlinder from is a veteran in the men’s war canoe, one of the crew
that powered to victory last year.
“We got some meat in the boat. We got some guys in the
boat who can pull and some experience. But you can’t take anything away
from the other boats. They’re all good.”
“Straight in! Straight in!”
(Scrambling Ambience)
The men are all-business as they continue to press their lead into the
third day. The women manage to hold their second-place spot against a
strong challenge. It’s mid-day on Sunday, when their canoe pulls into
view in Saranac Lake, New York, still grinding hard for the finish line:
(Loudspeaker: “Approaching the finish line, it’s the
women’s war canoe. Great job, ladies. Give it up for them.” Cheering)
“It was awesome, the three days. It was really
great.” “Everyone just kind of fell in and had their own place and had
their things to say and just did it.” “We didn’t get in any fights. We
just did our best and pushed ourselves to the limit.”
The women look weary but well-pleased with their time. They made the 90
mile journey in twelve hours and forty-two minutes – averaging a speed
of more than seven miles per hour over three days. That’s roughly 26
minutes behind the men’s team, not bad for a first crack at the reigning
champions, and a sure promise of things to come.
(Ambience of splashing and cheering)
“I’m out, I’m out.” (splashing)!
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Brian Mann in New York.