Brantley man among overall winners of Alabama 650 paddle race
The Alabama 650 paddle race has come to an end as paddlers from across the country competed in different categories.
From north Alabama through Montgomery, and finally to the coast of Fort Morgan, the race took competitors about 650 miles through the Alabama Scenic River Trail.
“This race doesn’t like to give you anything. When you think you’re in the clear, you just never are,” says paddler Bobby Johnson.
The overall winners of both the race and the tandem team category were Bobby Johnson and his tandem team partner Matt Taylor. The duo finished in an astonishing in 5 days, 9 hours, and 3 minutes.
Taylor is a local, living in the Crenshaw County city of Brantley, Alabama.
“I’ve always been a kayaker, I’ve always paddled a lot, just rivers. And believe it or not, I saw a video online of Bobby Johnson doing the Alabama 650, and I thought that’s pretty cool, I wanna try that out,” says Taylor.
In a partnership spanning five years, this year’s Alabama 650 was the duo’s fourth race together. The duo has set records in previous races.
“I was looking for a partner in a race in Texas and somebody says ‘I know a person.’ Turns out it was Bobby Johnson. So it was really cool to have him come on our team to race in Texas. He taught us so much about little knick-knacks you need to know about racing and how to get better,” says Taylor.
This year’s journey included all kinds of challenges, including rapids, heat, and even some rough storms.
“Well, it was something. It turned into a massive lightning storm. I swear, I saw a water spout in the front of that thing when the lightning flashed. And we hightailed it to shore,” says Johnson.
Competitors got very little sleep on the journey. Taylor says in order to stay ahead, they had to rest as little as possible.
“Our total sleep was about 7 hours out of the five days,” says Taylor.
While the paddlers prepare physically months before, the toughest challenge might be the mental aspect.
“It’s hard, you kind of start almost feeling like you’re going into alternate worlds. You’re almost crossing into some alternate world, that doesn’t make sense to you, but it does make sense to you,” says Johnson.
“The biggest thing is having your mind in the right place during these races, because you can be physically in shape. But if your mind isn’t in the right place, its really hard to win these races,” says Taylor.
The hard work paid off for the tandem team, when they came in first place.
“It just felt amazing. We’ve been practicing and training and just everything for the past five years. It just kind of built up to winning this just because it’s just a huge race, it’s so long, it’s super intimidating. So it just feels amazing to get to the end and not paddle anymore,” says Taylor.
“A win always makes you feel better. If we were to loss the race, we would have felt horrible coming in, so its always a great feeling,” says Johnson.
When asked what was next, Taylor says he plans to compete in shorter races.
Meanwhile, Johnson says he doesn’t plan on competing in the Alabama 650 next year, but says that could change. He does have another race coming up soon.
Here is a list of some of the top finishers:
Final (10/14)
Tandem results:
Overall race winner
Matt Taylor and Bobby Johnson
(5 days, 9 hours, 3 min)
Tandem category
1.Matt Taylor and Bobby Johnson
(5 days, 9 hours, 3 min)
2. Trey Reaves and John Wellens
(5 days, 19 hours, 15 min)
3. Jeb Berry and Susan Jordan
(7 days, 5 hours, 36 min)
4. Izzy Nicolier and Lillian Nelson
(9 days, 1 hour, 3 min)
Solo female results:
1.Salli O’Donnell
(6 days, 17 hours, 53 min)
2. Gayle Taylor
(9 days, 19 hours, 15 min)
Solo male results:
1. Chris Thomas (7 days and 51 min)
2. Jake VanLue (7 days, 2 hours, 54 min)
3. Eric Dittenber (7 days, 13 hours, 22 min)
4. Mirko Pruefer (7 days, 22 hours, 18 min)
5. Chris Logan (8 days, 4 hours, 41 min)
6. Gary Johnson (8 days, 20 hours, 40 min)
7. Jason Hochsprung (9 days, 20 hours, 55 min)
To find out more about the Alabama 650 paddle race, click here.
