Fitness Kayak Classes

Fitness Class:

Are you looking for  a way to stay active outside the gym during the warmer months? Do you have fitness goals you want to achieve and want to spend time on the water? Are you interested in building endurance to paddle longer distances, paddle faster, participate in a race or finish a race that you have been unable to finish? Sioux Empire Paddle Fitness classes are here to help meet your fitness goals AND have fun kayaking!

Kayaking is a great activity for recreation but it is also an excellent activity to use as a fitness activity whether one is trying to meet personal fitness goals or training for a kayak race. Our goal is to help individuals meet their fitness goals while promoting kayaking as an active lifestyle and having fun of course.

Courses can be scheduled as an individual or as a small group activity with friends, max of 5 individuals. Courses will be scheduled based on client availability so there is a great deal of flexibility for any schedule, weather permitting of course. If a course cannot occur as planned due to inclement weather, the course can be rescheduled. The length of a session is flexible from 1 hour or longer in duration.

Individual sessions will be focused on putting together a plan to meet individual goals whether it is improving fitness in general or learning how to train for long distance paddles or a race. Results and activities will be recorded for each session to measure progress and identify areas of growth and opportunity based on established goals. The first session will also consist of developing a personalized plan to assess current skills and establish goals.

Group sessions will be more activity based teaching fitness activities in a kayak suitable for any skill level and allow for friendly competition to help push one another. Groups can include up to 5 individuals.

Possible goals may include: Stability/balance training drills, interval training, speed and strength training, long distance/endurance training, cardio workouts, general nutrition options while kayaking, and/or learn new training techniques.

Cost:                      

Individual non-ACA: starting at $35 

Individual ACA member: starting at $30

Group: Groups of 3 or more save $5 per person off individual rate. Arrangements for larger groups can be made if necessary.

**** Multiple session discounts can be discussed ****

Where:  Location is flexible based on client needs. Area lakes that will be suitable for courses include: Lake Vermillion, Lake Alvin, Wall Lake. River training can be discussed and will primarily be available for weekend sessions only.

When:  Please contact Braxton at Braxton@siouxempirepaddlers.org to discuss availability to schedule  

What to Bring: Arrangements can be made for gear to be provided but clients should have their own equipment since part of the training will be to help individuals become more familiar with their own equipment including the following: kayak, PFD, paddle, water, GPS (not required but beneficial), food/fuel/water, proper paddling attire for conditions. If a boat, paddle and/or PFD need to be provided, please make such arrangements at time of scheduling session.

Chattajack 2015

Chattajack 2015

Driving 17 hours one way from Sioux Falls, SD to Chattanooga, TN was a tough decision to make considering the race was listed as a 31 mile race. Despite the long drive, the race was an incredible experience. The scenery is incredible between the bluffs and dense trees spanning the horizon to the view up and down river while driving over bridges. The sun was down by the time we reached TN so the view was restricted by darkness most of the way. One sight I clearly remember is descending down a grade looking up at the sky. I wondered where the dark clouds came that spanned nearly as high as I could see looking out the windshield. As I got closer, I realized they were not clouds, the tall ridges of bluffs just towered high above us.

The night prior to the race, I drove down to Ross Landing. The only thing that caught me off guard was the expense of parking not being accustomed to it up in South Dakota. Beyond that shock, I met several individuals roaming around the line to check in and at the staging area. My girlfriend and I ventured downtown trying to find a bite to eat. Restaurants were of great abundance but we could not find the one that caught our eye online. Standing outside of another restaurant looking rather puzzled, one of the restaurant staff was gracious enough to point us in the right direction. This very warming gesture/attitude was widespread amongst everyone in the area and those standing in line to check in for the race.

Instead of going to check into the race right away, tourist attractions were calling our name. We ventured to Lookout Mountain about 15 minutes away from where the race would start. Looking around it was clear that there were some decent changes in elevation but Lookout Mountain took me by surprise with just how much of a change in elevation there was. The drive up and down the steep roads didn’t bother me but roaming around in the National Park had me on edge. One can see for miles in every direction from the outer points of the park. Rumor has it that you can see 7 states from a given point in the park but seeing the landscape in parts of Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina are very possible with the naked eye. Not only is the region packed full of breath taking scenery, it also has a lot to offer to history buffs/enthusiasts with several battles occurring in the region.

Time flew by while roaming around admiring the views so we got back to the check in a little later than anticipated. It was getting dark but I still came across a few familiar faces that evening that also travelled several hours to be part of the experience. Stand up paddle boards, outrigger canoes, and surf skis lined the shoreline and the steps going up to the giant race tent.

When the morning of the race arrived, hundreds of people were scurrying around, getting gear together and attached to their boards and boats. The race was split into two heats with the first consisting of sea kayaks and stand up paddle boards. Most races I’ve been to involved a few paddle boards at most. Here, boats were clearly the minority. I believe the standup paddle boards outnumbered the boats 300 to 100 so it was a sight to see so many paddlers from all branches of interested congregated in one place. The start of heat one was like watching the doors open to a major chain store on Black Friday. The standup paddlers spread out quickly as they started forming a line going down the gorge with kayakers intertwined between them.

The second heat which I was part of consisted of outrigger canoes and surf skis. Going into the race, I knew there would be some fast paddlers. When the starting shot went off, surf skis pulled away from some of us as if we were standing still. It didn’t take but a couple miles for some of the surf skis to be out of sight with several other boats reaching the vanishing point as well. I held my position two thirds of the way into the race catching and passing several that started in the first heat. I heard rumors that catching the mob of standup paddlers was a sight to see…a zombie apocalypse on the water is how it was described to me. There was no end to them….I passed one, then another, a dozen more but more and more of them were coming into view. While passing several folks on boards, a couple familiar faces, Doug Robinett and Gerry Mitchell caught up to me. We held together as a group for a while until Doug pulled away from Gerry and me. We were then rejoined by a couple surf ski paddlers that had pulled off to the side briefly. I chatted with them momentarily until they regained their momentum and started pulling away with Gerry to try and catch up to Doug. This was a race that felt like nothing I had done prior to the event. Despite it being a river, there was no current or waves to help carry one closer to the finish line. Despite getting tired thinking the finish line was closer than it was, I kept pushing myself. Once I reached the last bend, I started pushing myself more. I then made the mistake of cutting towards the inside edge following a paddleboard. I ended up hooking what felt like an anchor of weeds onto my rudder drastically slowing me down. After wobbling the boat and zig zagging a bit, I finally felt the resistance vanish allowing me to pick up my pace again. I still had a couple boats in my view so I started to try and catch them. I closed the gap down to them being a couple minutes ahead of me as I neared the finish line. The last 200 yards of the race was set up as a sprint zone. Once I hit the start line of the sprint zone, I gave it everything barely being able to push my arms any harder to cross the finish line. Despite finishing 15^th, apparently I had one of the quicker final sprint times which was a great feeling on top of adding the completion of another race to my surfski/kayak adventures.

After the race, I learned more about some of the folks I raced against.  I knew of them were very well known paddlers but even the other names I had not heard were amongst some of the top paddlers on the east and southeast coast. It was great meeting those individuals and realizing how much difference there is between those of us used to racing 50-340 miles in how we train compared to those accustomed to races 30 miles and under. The best comparison between those of us used to longer races to those doing shorter races is like racing against clones of Mike Herbert. Despite the intimidation, it proved to show how much more there is to learn and how much more I can grow within the sport.

2015 Dam N Back Review

Dam N Back 2015

Although this race is only 10 miles long, it proved to be much more of a challenge than most anticipated. The race started on the shore in Riverside Park in Yankton, SD where paddlers raced 5 miles up the river, against the current for the first stretch of the race to the turnaround point where a half way token was presented to paddlers. Not only did paddlers have to fight the current, a headwind built up making progress up river move at a crawling pace while trying to reach the half way point. At times, some paddlers were struggling to hold onto the progress they made if they stumbled into the channel.  Many thought the hard part was done and over with since the current could help carry them back to the finish line but racers were not fortunate enough for that to be the case. On the way back, the wind shifted creating a headwind for the last half of the downriver stretch. The wind continued to build up as racers were making their way to the finish line. Gusts of wind made racers exert every bit of energy remaining to cross the finish line and run up the embankment to the finish line. 

During this race, I paddled a Stellar SES Excel layup surf ski. The sleek design of the ski was very suitable for racing up the river at a speed of 5+ mph. Matt Story was paddling his Fenn surf ski that was about ¾” wider than the SES and was on my tail until we were in sight of the turnaround point. The inlet was shallow so I got hung up briefly after grabbing the token before heading back down river. I lost some of the distance that I had gained due to getting hung up. Matt has always been one of my favorite folks to paddle with being at a similar level/ability to push one another. He did exactly that on the way down river. Both Matt and I were relatively new to paddling surf skis so stability was not the strongest suit when pushing one another at the end in a full sprint. I didn’t look behind before taking off giving it my all when I reached the bridge since I knew he would be behind me. I reached the shoreline and crossed the finish line and turned to see Matt right there as well. He hopped out of his boat a little bit farther out from shore thinking it was still shallow but it was deep enough that his feet did not make contact with the bottom. Despite the deeper exit, he finished less than a minute behind me. Watching others finish after us was amazing as well. Granted a couple of us had light, high performance boats, it took a lot of strength and determination for others to battle the current and wind in significantly heavier boats. It was a great, challenging race to start off the 2015 paddling season. The water ended up being warmer than anticipated for early May and the air temps were comfortable for just compression layers to be worn. 10 miles was a comfortable distance overall and the 5 mile upriver portion added a nice challenging element to the race overall.

South Dakota Races in 2016

Kayak, canoe or SUP, we want YOU to visit the Mount Rushmore State in 2016 and paddle!

We have three races and you'll love them all. In May, the Dam N Back Trek, a 10-mile against-current-for-half of the distance event returns for its second year in Yankton. The same city hosts the South Dakota Kayak Challenge during Memorial Day weekend.

On July 9, the waters below Fort Randall Dam (shown in the image) will teem with paddling life as the third-annual Fort to Field 50 Paddle Battle is slated. Registration opens on Jan. 1 for all of these events!

We hope you'll consider all three as you make your plans this winter for Midwest Kayak Races!

Welcome to Midwest Kayak Racing

Our goal is to give the paddlers in the Midwest information on upcoming races that they could join, reviews on previous races, equipment to help make racing easier, skills that are important for racing, maps of annual kayak races, links to paddling races, and anything else about racing as a paddler.

If you would have any questions or information about upcoming races please comment and we will get a hold of you for more information to spread to the general public.

We hope to reach paddlers in South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, and Illinois.

Happy racing everyone.