It`s an unlikely April evening. Gray. Chilled.
The rough, rude river breaks against the shore as scattered canoes cut their way upstream.
”Power, power it! Drive it!” calls Chicagoan Ed Hahn, 58, across the gathering wind.
Ed`s son Mike, 29, of River Forest and Barbara Yamamoto Provo, 44, of Bolingbrook are out on the river for an after-work training session for the upcoming 32nd Annual Mid-AmericanCanoe Race.
Sponsored by the Fox Valley Park District of Aurora, the point-to-point Fox River race is limited to 1,000 canoes. It starts at 7 a.m. June 7 at the dam in South Elgin and finishes 22 miles-and five portages-south at the Illinois Avenue Bridge in Aurora.
Activity and spirits are high up and down the valley on race day, and for many it heralds the beginning of summer. The race is a herculean organizational effort, involving park districts and various community groups from all the towns along the route.
”The Fox River is a wonderful natural resource and is the one common denominator of its communities,” said Walter Johnson, regional director for the National Park and Recreation Association. ”The race breaks down any borders between the towns and pulls everyone together.”
The race also attracts both serious and recreational canoeists. Ed Hahn belongs in the former category.
”You don`t want to be caught in anyone`s wake,” Hahn says, ”so in the first 300 yards or so you put in extra effort and then maintain about 70 strokes a minute for the rest of the race.”
A wiry, bearded man with graying hair caught in a hasty ponytail, Ed Hahn has a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Purdue University. He`s a local canoeing legend.
Hahn has captured one national championship as well as a number of seconds and thirds, and has won the C-1 (one-man canoe) on the state level the last three years.
Next Sunday morning, he`ll be in canoe No. 97 with Jeff Palmquist, 32, of St. Charles. Their goal is to win the men`s cruising category in the Mid-American.
Not content with just one go at the race, Hahn will tackle the river again in the afternoon with son Mike, who will have raced in the morning with Provo (canoe No. 98).
” `Tave (Gustave) Lamperez and Dave Simon (No. 103) will be the team to beat,” says Palmquist, president of the Illinois Paddling Council as he and Hahn leave to get on the river.
Paul Heinkel, 42, of Aurora is superintendent of recreation for the Fox Valley Park District and secretary of the race. He has coordinated the event for the past 11 years.
”There were 47 canoes in the first race, and it took about 14 years to build it to the 1,000 limit,” said Heinkel. ”Last year was a terrific event with excellent conditions. There was high water and a little breeze out of the north.
”In contrast, two years ago there were 40- to 50-mile-an-hour winds in the afternoon and we had low water. That is manageable if you know the river, but probably 70 percent of our entrants are recreational and are just in the race to have a good time or their own little races with one another. Water down 3 or 4 inches can be very tough.”
Beginning at 7 a.m., heats of 10 canoes leave every four minutes. Canoeists are asked to arrive one hour before their start time. If they`re late for their heat, they can be put in a later heat but are penalized the elapsed time.
The race officially ends at 6 p.m.; canoeists who finish after that time don`t receive an official time nor do they receive the finalist patch.
Chief Louis Oine of the South Elgin Fire Protection District said about a dozen of his people will help get the canoes and canoeists onto the river to start the race.
”Depending on the height of the river that day, there is usually about a three-foot drop to the water, so our people suit up in three-quarter high boots to assist them. Then once the canoeists are in, they pull themselves along the rope on the wall to their starting position and start single file when the starter fires the blank.”
For the recreational canoeists, it can be anywhere from a four- to six-hour day. Last year, Simon and Lamperez made it a record 2-hour, 5-minute, 33-second day, surpassing the previous record (2 hours, 8 minutes, 46 seconds) set in 1984 by Roger and Chris Finnell of Montgomery.
Although the majority of participants are recreational, a number of dedicated teams practice four or five times a week for 1/2 to 2 hours, with additional cross training in running, swimming and biking.
Bonnie McManus, 28, and Christine Shaw, 26, both of Chicago, will be racing together in canoe No. 220 for the second year. Last year they won the women`s division.
For off-season cross training through the winter, McManus swims; Shaw cross-country skis and speed skates.
”And in early March, as soon as the ice is out of the lagoon at Lincoln Park, we`re out,” said McManus. ”First we run a couple miles. Then we spend about an hour and a half on the water. Finally, we end up doing chinups, dips and situps. It`s pretty nice to stretch out, watching the sunset over Lincoln Park.
”On Sundays we often go to St. Charles and canoe the Fox, and on Wednesdays we hit the Des Plaines (River),” she said.
This will be Provo`s second year in the race. A single parent with a 13-year-old daughter, Provo is committed to doing her personal best. She paddles every day ”for my health and because I love it.”
In 1989, Provo had quintuple bypass surgery at Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove. ”Both my parents have had heart problems,” she said. ”They had quads (quadruple bypass surgery).
”The Des Plaines River is about five minutes from my house and my office,” said Provo. ”To train, Ed (Hahn) and I go 1 1/2 to 2 hours (about 12 miles), doing 68 to 72 strokes a minute. We do sprints. We`ll do five minutes as hard and fast as we can and then cool down three minutes by paddling at a slower rate.
”Then we do four minutes as hard and as fast as we can and cool down again for three and so on until we`re down to one minute of hard driving and then we slow-paddle back to our put-in point.”
Provo finished first in the state last year in the women`s division of the Illinois Paddling Council. ”I`m a new paddler compared to many of those people in their 20s I compete with,” she said. ”They`re younger and stronger and able to focus so completely on racing.”
Four or five days a week, Lamperez and Simon have been out on the Fox River practicing their racing skills. They`ve worked on shallow-water techniques and maneuvering around objects, especially for the Fox.
And on Wednesday nights they`ve gone to Elgin and back from the St. Charles Police Station.
”I really like canoeing,” said Lamperez. ”It`s my way of relaxing. I give it credit for having gotten me through high school and college.”
Fourteen-year-old Kurt Holz will be racing in canoe No. 86 with his dad, Hank Holz, 47, both from Elgin. Kurt is a student at Larsen Middle School in Elgin and is the third young man to race with Hank Holz in the Mid-American.
”It`s my first year,” said Kurt, ”and I am excited. About a month ago I started working with free weights for my upper body.”
His dad said, ”Canoeing with the boys has been a special once-a-year experience. For three years, I went with my son Jeff and now he goes with a friend. This year Kurt and I are going to do it. And two years I canoed with my nephew Scott Brown. I have the boys start strengthening their backs and upper arms about four weeks before the race,” he said.
”Then about two weeks before the race we go out once on the river and go about halfway down. The biggest challenge for the kids has been portaging. The boat is heavy, especially on the steep steps of the St. Charles portage.
”And persevering that long last hour is hard on them. We just have fun passing people and try not to be too concerned about people passing us. But in the end it is so great. The boys feel so good when they can say, `I did it.`
”They drink about a quart of water, wolf down some Twinkies for quick energy and in 10 minutes they`re totally alive,” Hank Holz said.
Besides a sense of accomplishment, Holz sees other character-building aspects in the race.
”I think it is a great experience with a younger child,” he said. ”The discipline in preparing for the race is good, and sticking to it to the end is worth it, even through tears. It reinforces the idea of setting goals and making them.”
Aurorans Frank Windisch, 70, and Richard Buss, 57, are longtime canoeing partners.
”Our first Mid-American race was in 1973, and in 1974 the race was called off because the water was too high for canoes to make it under bridges. We`re almost always in the first heat and we`ll be the first canoe (No. 10;
single-digit numbers are not used) for the first time in five or six years.” The Windisch-Buss team is hoping to beat their personal best of 3 hours.
”Last year we missed that by 3 seconds,” Windisch said.
Richard Buss` sons Joel, 19, and Tim, 21, started canoeing five years ago, and will be in canoe No. 11.
Windisch said, ”I`ve been canoeing now for close to 55 years. I like the peace of it. No motors. But back then the Fox was different. The water was better and higher and we were usually down river by Montgomery. We used a painted canvas canoe. You can`t get `em today.
”This year we`ll be up to South Elgin by 6, `cause we start at 7. And we`ll be in our red Sawyer, with Buss in front,” said Windisch.
Like most sports, canoeing has a full range of equipment, much of which observers will see in the race. The 17-foot aluminum canoes weigh 75 to 80 pounds and are wider and slower and often used by recreational canoeists. The wooden paddles weigh about a pound and a half.
At the other end of the spectrum is the high-tech carbon fiber composite canoe, weighing about 32 pounds. And the carbon fiber paddles are about 52 inches long and weigh about 12 ounces; they also have a bent shaft, making the angle of the blade against the water more efficient for speed. Cost for one of these boats starts at $2,000.
Typically, canoeists put the paddle in the water as far in front of them as possible, pulling it back even with their thigh to pull out, or they may extend somewhat farther. With a ”hut” from the stern, marathon paddlers change sides.
Some years ago, many canoeists used to make their own canoes of western red cedar and sitka spruce. These were called cedar-strip boats and were lined inside and out with fiberglass. The boats weighed about 50 pounds and the materials cost about $150.
Race observers will also see a number of canoes in the race that are made of Kevlar, which is lighter and somewhat stiffer than fiberglass. These boats cost about $1,600.
Observers at the start of the race in South Elgin will see canoeists making adjustments on the thwarts (cross bars) and seats of their canoes so they have their weight evenly distributed.
To be trim is to be balanced and is important for efficient racing. Hydration is also a serious consideration for the canoeists. And to have continuous access to water or Gatorade, many racers will have clear plastic tubing taped to a water bottle and taped to their mouths. This way they don`t interrupt stroking to get a drink.
All canoes are required to have life preservers in their canoes, and many will have taped a digital watch on a thwart to keep track of time and pacing. Attention to detail along the shore is also an important part of race day.
Bob and Mary Jo Niels of Plato Center and a number of members of the Fox River Radio League, an amateur club, will manage the communications along the length of the race. The league has handled the communications every year for the race, including setting clocks and tracking through the portages.
”The portages each have their own character,” said Bob Niels.
The first portage is at St. Charles. Canoeists exit the river via a pontoon dock, get their canoe up and then run with the canoe along a short cement sidewalk, up a steep flight of stairs and then down a winding set of stairs to put the boat in the river again.
The second portage is at Geneva and is also very steep. Because of the bridge construction, race chairman Frank Miller of Aurora and Heinkel are staying in touch with the contractor and the local park district and Illinois Department of Transportation to be sure the river will be clear the day of the race.
A channel will be cored out so canoeists can get safely by the area.
The third portage is at north Batavia.
”There is a killer stump in the water,” Niels said. ”Though it is marked each year with pink fluorescent tape, some neophytes fail to compensate for it and hit it. Last year three boats popped rivets and had to leave the race.”
South of Batavia, canoeists will make the fourth portage onto one side of an island and off the other side.
The final portage is a dam at State Street at North Aurora. Chuck Schalz, the North Aurora portage chief, has a great time with the canoeists, playing such triumphant music as the theme from ”Rocky,” and encourages portagers by name.
”From that fifth portage, it is only four miles to Aurora and the finish line, Niels said.
”Our ham radio communication will again use two frequencies,” he said.
”One is for routine (communication), the other for emergencies. And all of the boats patrolling the river for the race through the Coast Guard Auxiliary will be tied in to our communications, too.”
Canoeist Palmquist said, ”It all comes together on race day. Many of us train 15 or more hours a week with no one out there to watch or care. Then on race day there are all kinds of people. It`s worth it and it`s great.”
So the canoeists would appreciate it if everyone would cross their fingers for sunlight, high water and a little breeze out of the north next Sunday.
