Over the course of his 32 years in canoe racing Rod Price has accomplished quite a great deal. In races throughout the southeast United States Rod has entered and won canoe triathlons, adventure races, spread races and pretty much any type of sporting event that involves a canoe. Twice Rod has won the 300 mile Everglades challenge race. Three times he has won the canoe classic held in New York Adirondack mountains. Closer to home Rod has won the Suwannee river Challenge race held on the historically famous Florida Suwannee river six times. In what he admits was a rigorous ordeal, far too removed from civilization for his taste he even managed to finish second in a three day long adventure race held on the great Amazon River. For that race Rod and three partners had to build a log raft and paddle it down the Amazon. Rod raced and one the Yukon 1000, which as the name would imply is a 1000 mile race through Canada and Alaska on the Yukon River. Rod has entered over 1000 races and won over 200 of them. It seems that if any type boat can be moved with a paddle Rod will get in it or on it and race to a finish line.

No one who knows Rod would then be surprised to learn he has entered the Florida Ultimate Challenge. This has been called the toughest race in the world. Anyone who understands the heat and humidity of the Florida tropics would have to agree. The race is a nonstop 1200 mile event in which entrants must paddle through and around the entire state of Florida. Beginning in Tampa Bay the racers travel south meeting checkpoints along the gulf coast. At Florida’s tip they see a bit of the Everglades before rounding Key Largo and heading north along the Atlantic Coast. After passing Jacksonville Florida they turn west along the St. Mary’s river on the order of Florida and Georgia. Here they must paddle upstream for 90 miles into the center of Florida and the town of Saint George.

The race next moves to the land for a 40 mile hike up to Fargo Georgia and the headwaters of the Suwannee river, Rod’s old stomping grounds. Of course that hike will include towing his canoe for the 40 miles. Rod’s reward for finishing that trek will be a light 220 mile sprint along the Suwannee river that begins with a run of class three rapids. Eventually Rod will be back looking at the Gulf of Mexico and a checkpoint at Cedar Key. This is the last stop before a 120 mile dash back to the starting point at Fort DeSoto beach Florida.

One would think that the 1200 miles of racing and towing of a canoe around Florida would not be as difficult as Rod’s six day adventure along the Yukon was. But with the Florida Ultimate Challenge expected to last at least three times as long and with the race taking place on land, sea and rivers, Rod Price’s assessment that this challenge will be far more difficult than any he has ever faced is probably dead on accurate.

Rod’s assessment is that the longer duration of the race coupled with the lack of the downstream current such as Rod enjoyed in the Yukon may prove to be crippling for most of the contestants. Plus even though the Florida Ultimate Challenge takes place in early March 2012, it is always possible in Rod’s home state that the heat wave can land pushing temperatures into the low nineties. Headwinds on the ocean portions of the race can also cut Rod’s speed in half.

With much of the race taking place on the intracoastal waterway and through the Florida Everglades, there is also the chance and likelihood that Rod can easily find himself lost. As experienced a canoe racer as Rod is, this has happened to him before in the Everglades. Very often in races of this kind paddlers fall victim to the need for sleep and find themselves adrift among the mangroves looking for a friendly spot to spend the night. Because of this no one will be taking any part of the race navigation lightly. In endurance races of this kind it is not uncommon for the athletes to suffer such physical and mental fatigue as to no longer be able to read the maps for the course.

Another set of obstacles that Rod will face on the intracoastal waterway and in the open waters around Florida is traffic from pleasure boaters and commercial vessels. A large barge can easily crash into a canoe and never know it did so. Weekend pleasure boaters zipping around in everything from ski boats to air boats create massive wakes that can easily swamp and overturn a canoe. Now actual threats such as sharks as large as Rods canoe and manta rays that leap through the air will also be facing off with Rod during his adventure. Even a friendly Florida manatee can accidentally flip upside down a lightweight racing canoe.
Despite all the possible problems Rod is training hard and gearing up for the race. This will be the first race Rod has entered in a long time that he is forced to question his ability to tough it out and finish. But if there ever was a race on land or water that Rod Price wanted to win, this is the one.