Sign-up underway for BIG Little River Paddle Race

ADEL — Paddlers can win in any of a dozen categories during the BIG Little River Paddle Race April 25 at Red Roberts Landing at Reed Bingham State Park. Not that entrants are required to race … it’s a nice little paddle anyway.

At the eighth annual BIG Little River Paddle Race at Reed Bingham, located between Adel and Moultrie, participants can enjoy lunch, a kayak raffle, and a silent auction afterwards. You can just paddle along this scenic stretch of tea-colored river on the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail among cypress, turtles, birds, and yes, alligators. (Don’t pet them and they won’t bother you.) This three-mile race also has fierce competitors, with last year’s winner finishing in barely more than half an hour.

“You can win in any of a dozen categories: one- or two-person canoe or kayak, male or female or mixed, as well as oldest, youngest, and from farthest away,” race mastermind Bret Wagenhorst, an eye doctor in Tifton and a charter board member of WWALS Watershed Coalition, said.

“This year we hope to have even more paddlers than last year, when we had 55 (57% female) in 46 canoes and kayaks, from Georgia, Florida and Mexico,” Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman said. “Nobody beat the previous year’s winning time, so this year if somebody does, they will get an additional $200 prize. Winners in other categories each get a BLRPR hat, which you can’t get any other way than winning, volunteering, or being on the WWALS board.”

Cost to enter is $20 until April 1; $30 thereafter, or at the site, from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., at Red Roberts Landing, on Rountree Bridge Road, off of Interstate-75, Exit 41 (Sparks). Entrants can rent boats at Reed Bingham State Park (reservations must be arranged in advance), and there is a park entrance fee of $5.

The mass start will be at 9:30 a.m.. It can take two hours for everybody to paddle down to Reed Bingham State Park Boat Ramp (West), after which we will have lunch at about noon, with a silent auction, followed by the awards. There is a cash prize and a trophy for first place, and hats for all the other winners. Plus entrants can get stickers, buttons, and pictures taken by Gretchen Quarterman on many of our rivers and lakes and swamps in the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin.

The BIG Little River Paddle Race is a fundraiser for the nonprofits WWALS and Friends of Reed Bingham State Park. The latter is the official nonprofit support organization for Reed Bingham State Park, a park known for its innovative programs and as a leader in resource management, particularly with rare and endangered plants and animals such as gopher tortoises, bald eagles, indigo snakes, and other native species. It is a chapter of Friends of Georgia State Parks. Join us as we work to provide a wonderful place for individuals and families to enjoy the natural beauty of South Georgia.

WWALS Watershed Coalition advocates for conservation and stewardship of the Withlacoochee, Willacoochee, Alapaha, Little, Santa Fe, and Suwannee River watersheds in south Georgia and north Florida through education, awareness, environmental monitoring, and citizen activities.

Special Photo: Gretchen Quarterman