A new endurance race is coming to Virginia and it promises to be quite a challenge. The James River Rundown will be one of the longest paddling races in the United States, covering 100 miles of the scenic James River over a two-day period from June 20-21, 2014.

Competitors will traverse the river in kayaks, canoes, rafts and paddleboards, either as solo paddlers or in teams. There are no restrictions on what they paddle, just as long as there is no motor, sail, or anchored oar configuration and participants reach the finish line within the 40 -hour cutoff.

The race begins at James River State Park in Gladstone and ends 100 miles later at the American Legion boat ramp just past Robious Landing Park in Richmond. Designated checkpoints will be set up along the way, offering paddlers a chance to rest or camp.

The James River Rundown committee is chaired by Kevin Odberg who was inspired to organize the event after participating in the Missouri River 340. “The real goal of this race is to create a fun challenge and spread an appreciation for the river and the James River Association that works to protect it,” said Odberg. “Finishing a race like this creates a sense of pride and camaraderie along with a real connection to the river.”

Race dates correspond with the Summer Solstice, which means paddlers will have the most amount of daylight of the year, giving them ample time to paddle without having to do so in the dark. The course is on a stretch of the James River that does not have any dams, portages or tough rapids.

That does not mean, however, that this will be easy race. At the beginning of the course, participants will fight winding river and low water levels with occasional hang-ups and rocks ready to stop their craft. The second half of the course is smoother but by then the fatigue, heat, and muscle pain will be the biggest foe.

A tube will probably not win you the James River Rundown this summer.

“We want this race to appeal to a wide variety of paddlers and be a fun event for everyone,” said Bill Street, CEO of the James River Association. “The James River Rundown will be a great showcase for recreation on the river, but safety is always a top priority, so there will be plenty of checkpoints, camping spots and safety boats along the course.

The family-friendly after party at the finish line should cure paddler’s weariness by offering live music and beverages from Hardywood Park Craft Brewery.

We like Hunter Davis and Ben Moore because they’re always hustling — and because few people know the James River like these two whitewater paddlers. Moore runs the standup paddleboarding program at Riverside Outfitters. Davis has a lot of irons in the fire, including Home on the James, where, among other things, he posts tremendous videos focusing on America’s Founding River.

The above video — “Pipeline” — is the beginning of a partnership between RichmondOutside.com, Davis and Moore. The “James River Video Atlas,” will comprise short videos of all of the the rapids in the falls of the James, from Bosher’s Dam to the Pipeline. We’ll showcase the videos here in the News Blog as they’re released, then they’ll live in our Paddling page and the appropriate Destinations pages. There you’ll be able to click on any rapid and watch the video of Moore and Davis talking about it and running it in their paddleboards and kayaks.

Local paddler Patrick Griffin clued me in to this event, and it sounds really cool. On Thursday, May 22nd the James River Outdoor Coalition will be hosting the RVA premier of Patagonia’s documentary DamNation. The film will be projected on the side of the Floodwall at Floodwall Park in Manchester. Viewers are encouraged to come around 8:30 p.m. to mingle and grab a bite to eat from a local food truck and grab spot on the lawn.  The film will start promptly at 9 p.m. in order for it to be dark enough for the projection.

Ben Knight films the former Elwha Dam before its removal. Photo: Travis Rummel

Griffin said he and local filmmaker Melissa Lesh saw the film at the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital about three weeks ago.

“After being blown away, we talked about the possibility of bringing the film to Richmond,” Griffin said.

“Joey Parent of the VCU Outdoor Adventure Program had recently suggested that JROC do more regular fundraisers in order to always have funds to help the park when necessary,” Griffin added. “This combined with Hunter Davis’ success with showing paddling and biking films in the city led me to the idea of hosting a DamNation premier as a JROC benefit.

The event is made possible through JROC, VCU OAP, Home on the James, and Aviva Rentals.  A donation of $5 recommended to help defray the cost of the show. Any extra money will be given to JROC.

While we await Old Man Winter releasing his icy grip, I wanted to point out two recent releases from the James River Association that should be of interest to outdoors folks in the area.

The bunkhouse for the JRA’s Ecology School on Presquile.

The first is an opportunity to discover one of Central Virginia’s hidden gem outdoor destinations: Presquile National Wildlife Refuge. Just 15 miles from downtown Richmond, Presquile is a 1,329-acre island in the James River that’s only open by appointment. The NWR system has a few facilities there, and the JRA’s ecology school is based there as well. It’s teeming with wildlife and is a great place to discover by canoe or kayak. And on April 12, the public has that opportunity for the second year in a row. The JRA and US Fish and Wildlife Service and holding their annual Presquile Field Day. Activities lead by the James River Association, VCU, US Fish & Wildlife Service, VA Master Naturalists and the Audubon Society will be going on throughout the day. This is a once-a-year opportunity to see one of Central Virginia’s most stunning natural settings.

The JRA also recently announced that they’re giving away free trees. Who doesn’t love free, right? Especially when we’re talking trees. Actually, they’re giving away money to reimburse people for the cost of planting trees, but the end result is the same.

The wetlands boardwalk on Presquile.

During the spring and fall planting seasons, the James River Association is offering free
trees to Richmond City residents. Homeowners can receive up to a $200 reimbursement per
home for trees planted on their property.

This tree incentive program is only open to City of Richmond residents and reimbursements are
available March through April, and September through November 2014. Homeowners must be
an existing River Hero Home or submit an application to become a new River Hero Home to
qualify.

River Hero Homes is JRA’s certification program that recognizes homeowners who are
successfully taking steps to improve water quality by reducing the amount of stormwater and
pollution leaving their property. To become certified, JRA requires homeowners to install a
river-friendly practice, such as planting trees or installing a rain barrel, as well as following some
simple everyday actions to reduce pollution. These actions, which include picking up after your
pet or planting native plants, may seem small, but when adopted on a wide scale, can have a
significant impact on local water quality.

Tree reimbursements are available on a first-come, first-served basis and will be available until
funding runs out. For more information about this program, and to find out if your property
qualifies, click here.

Check out this sweet video by Brandon Montijo and his production company, Tijo Media. We’ve featured Tijo Media videos before, but this is a particularly cool one of the huge community paddle put together by Ben Moore and Hunter Davis. Looking forward to more river-related videos from these guys.

First RichmondOutside.com featured Retro Video Night, tomorrow’s paddlers’ party at The Camel (5 -9 p.m.), where boaters show all their homemade paddle porn from 2013, then Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine made the event its “Weekend Pick.” No matter the weather, it promises to be a big weekend for James River lovers in Central Virginia.

Greg Hawkins

One of those river lovers is Chris Hull, the James River Outdoor Coalition president. After I posted the piece on Retro Video Night, I spoke with Hull about the fundraising efforts he and others have undertaken for the past year in honor of Greg Hawkins, the former VCU Outdoor Adventure Program leader who died of lung cancer this summer. Hull said even before tomorrow’s James River Run 5K (another Hawkins fundraiser) enough money has been raised to buy three water fountains for the James River Park System.

The original goal was for one, a dual human/dog fountain, to be installed at the Reedy Creek entrance to the JRPS. Now another another two fountains will go in, one likely at the Texas Beach parking area and another at Great Shiplock Park. Not only will these fountains serve both humans and dogs, they’ll also have spigots so bikers can fill up their bottles. Anyone who’s done longer mountain bike rides in the hot summer on the downtown trails knows there are precious few places to fill up a bottle. Most people end up wearing Camelbacks because of it. These fountains could obviate that need.

Of course, dogs will also have the nearby James River to drink from.

One city employee I spoke to said the fountains are on order and could be installed as early as the spring.

For six years now, a growing group of whitewater paddlers in Richmond has gotten together the first Saturday in December to celebrate the past year’s adventures on the James River and often all over the world. It started as “Retro Movie Night” at The Camel, said Hunter Davis, one of the event’s driving forces, where paddlers would watch the videos they had all shot of whitewater exploits from the past season.

Credit: Rich Young

Davis moved back to Richmond from Asheville this past year. In Asheville, he said, “video producers were throwing these movie nights where everybody would get together from the local (paddling) community and watch movies together. There was nothing like that in Richmond, and I thought it would be cool to start something.”

Maybe you’ve been out walking your dog in Forest Hill Park just after a heavy rain and seen the crazy kayakers who paddle the swollen beast that is Reedy Creek. If you hadn’t laid your own two eyes on it, you wouldn’t have believed it. How is it possible that the boulder strewn crik is actually runnable? Are who are those dudes running it?

Well, they’re dudes like Ben Moore and Hunter Davis, and it turns out Reedy isn’t the only place to creek boat in the Richmond area. Sure, it’s not the mountains, but as you can see in the above video, Pocoshock Creek near where it enters the Falling Creek Reservoir is a fun drop in its own right.

Moore on his paddleboard on Reedy Creek after Hurricane Sandy blew through.

Matt Perry and Riverside Outfitters are doubling down on downtown.

The river rafting company, which also rents bikes, boats, and offers camps has long been based near the Stratford Hills Shopping Center off Forest Hill Avenue. Two years ago the outfit opened an outpost on Brown’s Island, renting mountain bikes, kayaks and standup paddleboards for people to use on the nearby sections of trail and in Tredegar Pool between Brown’s Island and Belle Isle.

RO outpost on Brown’s Island.

But the Brown’s Island shop was only open Friday-Sunday from Memorial Day to Labor Day. This coming spring, says Perry, Riverside’s co-owner, he’ll staff the outpost seven days a week — 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. — during the same traditional summer season (Memorial Day weekend  to Labor Day weekend).

“You don’t want people to stop and think, ‘Hmmm, it’s Wednesday, are they open down there?'” he said. “You lose a fair percentage of people that way.”

Downtown, Perry added, “you aren’t really dealing with a captive audience.” People have options for how to use their time. The goal is “to become a more certain entertain option down there.”

Riverside Outfitters first worked out the deal with Venture Richmond (which operates Browns Island) to open the outpost in the spring of 2011. Perry said the idea was to give it two seasons and see what the demand was. This past summer the high water forced them to shut down for six weeks — June through mid-July.

But when they opened back up after the water went down, “we were kind of getting some momentum, awareness was building back up again,” Perry said. “The last three weekends in August were the best we’d ever seen by a long shot. We had multiple hours where all the boats were out.”

SUPs and kayaks are $15 an hour, and mountain bikes are $10. Those numbers won’t change this year, he said.

“It was a two-summer long test, and we were ready to make the decision of do we pack up or roll out and we decided to roll out.”

Perry added: “If you’re going to be the best river city in the country, you have to have something like this.”

Friend of the program and videographer extraordinaire Hunter Davis put together this clip of his friends, Isaac Hull and Cooper Sallade getting after it at Pipeline Rapid the other day. These guys are good. And if you needed another reminder of what we have here in the heart of Richmond, consider this our offering for the day.

State of the James: ‘Pipeline’ from Hunter on Vimeo.