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Dispatch #2 [2025]

May 27, 2025

Hello MR340 Racers!

I hope you’ve been able to dig into the resources about the race, get out on the water with your boat to train and figure out your plan with your Ground Crew! This race is a LOT and your preparation is what will make it all possible.

This is the second Dispatch for the race, and there will be several more coming in the next few weeks on a variety of topics. All racers are responsible for reading each dispatch and sharing the info with your Ground Crew. You can find Dispatch #1 (and all dispatches as they post) HERE. Read that first one again and click through to all the Resources. 

We are so excited…it’s the 20th Annual Missouri American Water MR340! We love hearing from all of you how your training is going. This will be an epic year and we can't wait to spend the week on the river with all of you!

About your host – Missouri River Relief

The MR340 is hosted by Missouri River Relief, a nonprofit based in Columbia, MO, that is dedicated to connecting people to the Missouri River through stewardship, education and recreation. Since 2001, MRR volunteers have removed over 1 million pounds of junk from the banks and floodplains of the Missouri River from St. Louis to Omaha, NE. Our education programs have reached more than 40,000 teachers and students – most of those at or on this river we love.

Find us on Facebook and Instagram, explore our YouTube Channel and wander through our website to more about how you can get involved or learn more about the Missouri River.

My name is Steve Schnarr, and I’m your Race Director. I’ve been involved in the race since 2008, but this is my first year as Race Director. If you raced last year, you would have met the amazing Taby Lane, who left me with a ton of great resources to help you have the best race ever. I’m here for you. Reach out to me and our team at racing@riverrelief.org with your questions and concerns.

Many of you will also be communicating with our Operations Director Kevin Tosie. As you will see, he is an amazing human. 

Check Your Racer Info

Find this Dispatch in your inbox and doublecheck the racer info there.

Please email racing@riverrelief.org with any updates. Have you changed your boat or ground crew since you registered? Let us know the updates.

Have your Plans Changed?

Please let us know if you are no longer able to participate or if you have decided to switch divisions. Registration is open until June 16. Changes to registration (boat color, teammate, division, etc) can be made until June 23, 2025.

ALSO – please check the Race Roster to make sure the info we have posted there is correct. Jump to your division and search for your name.

Mandatory Waiver

Waivers this year are being handled online via Smartwaiver.com. Here’s the link - https://waiver.smartwaiver.com/v/2025mr340. There is no need to print and bring these waivers this year. At Race Check-In, Monday, July 7, we’ll be making sure your waiver is on file…If not you’ll be signing one there. It is a huge time savings if you can just do this simple online waiver.

Planning Your Race –

Testing and Training

This race will test you and your gear to the limits. You have over a month left to test out all your systems and keep up your training to be ready for the big day. Take advantage of the longer evenings and breaks in the weather to get some miles in. Search the Facebook group "Missouri American Water MR340" with your questions and if you don’t find the answer you need, just ask! Ask if there are others in your area that you can partner with. There are some very generous and friendly folks in the community.

Night training is very helpful, but should never be done alone. Find a partner to do some spend some time night training – on the Missouri River if possible! It will really give you more confidence going into the race. Wed. June 11 is our last real full moon before the race.

Upcoming Races & Training Opportunities

Local 5K paddling groups

There are weekly gatherings in the Greater KC, Columbia and St. Louis Regions where paddlers do 5K races, share info and test out their gear. They are an amazing expression of our unique paddling community. They are all organized by Facebook Groups, but you don’t need to belong to Facebook to participate

Upcoming Races & Training Opportunities

Planning

You must check out the MR340 Resources tab https://mr340.org/resources/ , where there are links to many resources to assist your planning and preparation. Some of these related to race specific locations will continue to be updated as the race approaches. But most is evergreen. Refer back to Dispatch #1  that covers each section of the resources page and explore everything there. Multiple times!!!

Much of this is also essential for your ground crew.

Topics on the Resources page include: Gear, Race Tracking, Safety, Ground Crews, Plan & Prep, Race Course and Rules.

Gear

Please take a moment to read the "Gear" Resources page. Figure out your solution for Nighttime Navigation Lights NOW. There are tips. 

Race Course

Here’s a direct link to our full “Race Course” Resource page.  

Make sure you print out our simplified Race Course Map  – a two-pager showing checkpoints, paddle stops and some open/close times. A lot of people laminate a copy of this for reference during the race.

When planning, check out our Google Map of ramps along the river to decide where you may want to stop to meet your ground crew, get food from race vendors (a bunch of local nonprofits and small businesses that support the race), take a nap, hit a porta potty or resupply on water. There is also a list of ramps with their amenities (or lack thereof) that will continue to be updated as the race approaches -  

Another helpful series of maps for planning and for Ground Crews is the Lewis & Clark Recreational maps by the Corps of Engineers. It’s a bit out of date (doesn’t include the new Taylor’s Landing, Huntsdale or Klondike), but still super helpful.

Video Resources

There’s a ton of stuff on YouTube to checkout! Here’s a few –

  • “Navigating on the Missouri River” – knowing where the channel is – it’s crucial! This little video gives some good overview tips on reading and understanding the Missouri River – plus tips on river hazards you will encounter like buoys, barges and bears. Well, no one’s seen a bear yet. 
  • “Ramp to Ramp” – this is from 2023…a little out of date but mostly relevant. Goes through nine of the ramps from the Google Earth perspective. A great exercise to add to watching this video is to look at each ramp via Google Maps Satellite View. Look at the ramp approach, which side of the river its on, look for hazards (some, like wing dikes, may be underwater in the aerial photo but not the day of the race). 
  • MR340 Live Recorded Webinars - these were recorded in 2021 but are REALLY great resources for a bunch of important topics. Hosted by Chris Luedke. 
  • 340 Paddler – These batches of MR340 helper videos cover a TON of important topics! All created by MR340 veteran Chris Luedke. 

We’ll be posting our 2025 Safety Video in a couple of weeks. But you can check out last year’s video here. 

Fundraising!

Just want to give a shoutout to our top fundraisers! The top three fundraisers will get a Llama Racks Gift Card for $330. All of the funds all of you have raised go to support our work at Missouri River Relief. Thank you so much!

Andy Besselman - $2,525

Ryan Todd - $1,225

Steven Droste - $1,158

Bernie Arnold  - $1,090

What does Missouri River Relief with your hard-earned fundraised dollars? We are dedicated to connecting people to the Missouri River through stewardship, education and recreation. This spring we’ve been hard at work! We introduced 850 students to the river through our Missouri River Days   program, including our first batch of Jefferson City students from Thorpe Gordon STEM Academy!

370 volunteers removed 7 tons of trash from the Missouri River in Sugar Creek and Omaha/Council Bluffs. 

And so much more! Be sure to like our pages on Facebook and Instagram to keep up with what YOU make possible!

HOTELS

If you haven’t gotten your hotel room for the start and finish…what are you waiting for? We’ve got specially-priced blocks at both ends of the race, and most of those close on June 6. Here’s the link. 

We’ll have more info coming up soon. Keep your eyes peeled. All the dispatches will be posted here. 

The Race Shop

Check out all the great MR340 gear in our online shop! 100% of the proceeds benefit our nonprofit organization, Missouri River Relief. Shipping is $2.50 for light bundles and $5 per order for everything else. 

Training, Training, Training

We can’t stress enough the importance of training! Get on the water, test your gear, your setup, your boat, and teamwork. See what’s it like to be in the river at night with a full moon illuminating the way. You’ll be hearing of opportunities to meet up and paddle with others, take that opportunity when you can! There will be racers in the community sharing tips and tricks that worked for them, these are wonderful places to get ideas.

Can’t wait to meet all of you!

Please don't hesitate to reach out to our Race Staff with any of your questions!

Steve Schnarr

Race Director – Missouri River Relief
racing@riverrelief.org
573-289-2077

MR340.org

2025 Dispatches

Special thank you to Missouri American Water, our title sponsor. These are the folks that transform Missouri River water into drinking water for St. Louis & St. Charles County and Jefferson City. They are also crucial partners at the Finish Line, creating a safe place for you to land and for all of us to celebrate your accomplishment.

And a huge shout out to our "River Captain" Sponsor Rocca AudioVisual. They have a deep connection to the Missouri River and to this race. We are so grateful for their support. 

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