Get Out on the Water at Lake Champlain Maritime Museum’s Annual Challenge Race
Calling all paddlers, rowers, and on-water adventurers! The annual Lake Champlain Challenge Race is coming up on Sunday July 10, 2016 at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum in Vergennes, Vermont. The Challenge Race follows a three mile triangular course which includes some of most beautiful scenery on Lake Champlain. The registration fee of $25.00 per person includes museum admission for two. Registration starts at 9:30 and the race begins at 11:00 and is open to all types of human-powered boats: singles, doubles, kayaks, paddleboards, paddleboats, 6 oar or 20 oar! Minors can participate with parental permission. Bring your own boat, or sign up to reserve one of ours — a few canoes and kayaks will be available on a first-come basis. All boaters must provide their own PFDs. Lake Champlain Maritime Museum’s Community Rowing Club will provide a free buffet lunch on the Museum grounds for all participants after the race.
In recent years, the Sunday Challenge Race has become a destination for rowers coming from across New England and Canada to camp at nearby campgrounds for three days. They assemble at the museum on Saturday for informal racing and social gatherings before retiring to their campsites and hotels for the night. “A large contingent of enthusiastic rowers are coming from Picton, Ontario for their third annual voyage and competition against the Americans, bringing with them numerous supporters,” says Lisa Percival, who coordinates LCMM’s Community Rowing Club. “We are expecting teams from New Haven, CT, and Plymouth, Hull, and Gloucester MA. There will be teams from our local adult community rowing club, current students and alumni from our high school rowing program, and of course lots of people who just love to kayak or canoe.”
Among the Challenge Race participants this year is a team of eight women and four men that will travel to Northern Ireland in late July for the St. Ayles’ Skiff World Championships at Strangford Lough, County Down. The New England team will include four rowers each from LCMM, Hull Lifesaving Museum, and Gloucester Gig Rowers. LCMM men will also team up with a club from near Kingston, Ontario for certain races. The event in Ireland will field crews from about 50 clubs representing at least 8 countries. LCMM constructed two St. Ayles Skiffs in 2011, and sent a team to the first “SkiffieWorlds” event in Ullapool, Scotland, in 2013.
Lake Champlain Maritime Museum’s Community Rowing Club and Rowing For Racing meet weekly at the Museum’s Ferrisburgh campus. For information contact Lisa Percival,lisap@lcmm.org . The Museum is open daily from 10-5 through October 9. Additional rowing and racing events take place in the autumn and early spring. Find out more about LCMM at www.lcmm.org , on Facebook, or call (802) 475-2022.