'The World's Toughest Canoe Race' set to return after 2020 cancellation

A year after the race was canceled in 2020, the Texas Water Safari is set to make its return to San Marcos.

Dubbed “The World’s Toughest Canoe Race,” the water safari is an annual boating competition founded in 1963. The race spans 260 miles from the Meadows Center in San Marcos to the Bill Sander Memorial Park in Seadrift. Allen Spelce, the Texas Water Safari race director, said this year’s event is shaping up to be a fast one.

“We've got really good water in the upper river. The San Marcos River is flowing really well … anywhere from 200 to 500 (cubic feet per second), should be, on race day,” Spelce said. “And the lower water is really high and that is actually the biggest concern right now — there are some areas on the lower river around Cuero, Victoria and Bloomington in flood stage. So we're hoping all that water is gonna run out in the next five to six days and we're gonna have a great race come June 12.”

Competitors in the 2019 Texas Water Safari paddle their way down the San Marcos River. Daily Record photo by Gerald Castillo

Spelce noted that 148 teams are signed up for the race, one of the top-three showings for the water safari and just shy of the record 178 teams that competed in 2012 — the race’s 50th anniversary.

Some of those participants will be San Marcos residents, such as local business owners Rocco Moses and Cody Taylor.

Moses, who operates Texas State Tubes and Jack’s Roadhouse, is a five-time veteran of the Water Safari and most recently finished 52nd overall and 10th in the Solo Unlimited Man class in 2019 with a time of 56 hours and 22 minutes. He invited Taylor to join him for 2020’s race before it got canceled and the pair has been training for the 2021 event since.

Taylor, who owns Industry, will be a first-time competitor in the water safari. He’s competed in other tests of endurance, such as 5K runs, but never anything on the water. Last year’s race getting called off was a bit of a blessing in disguise for him, as he didn’t take his training nearly as seriously and wouldn’t have been prepared.

“It's been pretty terrifying, honestly. About two months ago we did like a night race that was only like, I don't know, under 30 miles. It wasn't even that big of a race,” Taylor said. “And after I did that that night, I got a very small taste of what I was getting into and it scared me pretty good. So I started to kind of double up my efforts. I ended up joining a gym and getting a trainer and had him working out with me in the mornings. Then I would try to paddle in the evening. So it scared me enough to where it motivated me pretty good to get out there and really start taking training seriously.”

“I told him that's one of the reasons why I like this race so much, is because you hit all the emotions,” Moses said. “You hit them at the very bottom and you hit them at the very top. And that's the thing, is that it's a full experience.”

The two will be competing in the Tandem Unlimited class this year. Moses is excited to guide Taylor through his first race.

“He's getting a shortcut through a lot of the headaches,” Moses said. “I mean, he initiated all of it, I just kind of laid out, you know, 'This is what I believe it takes to be ready for this thing,' and he took every step of it.”

The 2021 Texas Water Safari casts off from the Meadows Center on Saturday, June 12, at 9 a.m.

A crowd watches as competitors in the 2019 Texas Water Safari port near Rio Vista Park to get back into the San Marcos River. Daily Record photo by Gerald Castillo

“The excitement level is definitely there,” Spelce said. “Folks are ready to get out and get back to some normalcy.”