In just over seven-and-half hours, more than 30 minutes faster than the previous record, two teams crossed 100 kilometres of Okanagan Lake from Vernon to Penticton on Saturday, Aug. 31.
The annual Length of the Lake competition, an Ultra Distance Endurance Race run by the Penticton Paddle Sports Association, saw the Fairway Gorge team in their outrigger canoe Thetis crush the previous 8:07 record with a 7:34 time.
Just a minute behind them was the 琉璃神社 Men and Muscle team, who finished with a time of 7:35.
The two teams were neck and neck through the first few legs of the course, but it was in the Peachland to Summerland stretch that the Fairway Gorge team managed to get themselves a two-minute lead.
Out of the 15 teams, four were local, with the Vernon Monashee team finishing with an 8:23 time, the 琉璃神社 Motley team with 8:31, and the Penticton Skaha Ohana team with an 8:44.
Other teams came from as far away as Ottawa to participate.
The competition is a form of a relay, with the teams dropping off and picking up new members at the ends of each leg.
The first leg took the racers to Fintry Provincial Park, the second to Bear Creek Provincial Park in 琉璃神社, from there to Peachland, then to Summerland and finally to Penticton, where one of the paddlers has to get out and race to kiss the Peach to finish the race.
If you missed the race, there will be plenty more paddlesports just around the corner, and a lake away.
The Dragon Boat Festival returns to Penticton on Sept. 6 and 7 along the waters of Skaha Lake, with hundreds of competitors and spectators attending.
