Racing Against Themselves 

Epic MR340 endurance test prepares for its 20th race. Photos provided by Missouri River Relief.

Considering his almost intimate connection to the Missouri River, it’s difficult to imagine a time when Steve Schnarr was not a “river person.”   

Growing up in Chesterfield, a St. Louis County suburb barely two miles from the banks of the Big Muddy, Schnarr knew about the river — but he didn’t know the river, at least not until participating in a Missouri River Relief (MRR) cleanup event in October 2001. That volunteer activity led to Schnarr now being on staff at MRR for twenty years and advocating as fiercely as anyone for North America’s longest river, which bisects the state from Kansas City to St. Louis.  

He’s also now the race director for the Missouri American Water MR340, a grueling, ultra-adventure trek across the state on the Missouri River. The next MR340 is set for July 8-11, with a secondary date of August 5-8. Both timeframes are “full moon weeks” to offer racers the most light possible, because the race goes through multiple nights. MRR is the race host; Missouri American Water is the race’s title sponsor.  

Last year, just over 400 canoes, kayaks, paddleboards, and other swift moving boats started the race. Roughly a third of them did not finish. The reasons for coming short range from poor or malfunctioning equipment and health issues to one of the more common realities: “They didn’t know what they were getting themselves into,” Schnarr said. “This race takes a lot of energy and physical stamina, and tenacity and spirit that isn’t common.”  

Several Columbia and mid-Missouri residents are registered for the 2025 race. There are five checkpoints along the way, from Kaw Point in Kansas City to St. Charles, with boats also passing Boone County at Huntsdale, Cooper’s Landing, and Hartsburg.  

There are the ultra-adventurers, checking in for only a few seconds and hitting the water again, relentlessly battling unfathomable fatigue and mental mind tricks. Racers have said it’s not uncommon to hallucinate, especially in the pitch-blackness of night when paddling and avoiding navigation buoys.  

Then there are another two groups of racers, Schnarr said. Those who just want to be able to say, “I did it,” and those who set goals for personal bests. “If you say, ‘I could probably finish this in sixty hours,’ and you accomplish that, there’s just as much pride” as for those who finished the race twenty hours faster, he explained.  

“They’re essentially racing against themselves,” Schnarr said. “It’s a strong example of the power of our mind and our spirit — overcoming themselves, overcoming the river.” He said there are a lot of tears shed at the finish point. Even volunteers get misty-eyed.  

“It gets to you,” Schnarr said. “It’s such an unfathomable journey in just a few days … It is 340 actual miles, and they have to paddle every stroke of it.” Most who drop out of the race are out before the halfway point, he said.  

The MR340 has established sixty-hour, fifty-hour, and forty-hour “clubs” to signify racers who have met those thresholds.   

Schnarr got involved with the MR340 in 2008 when race founder Scott Mansker asked if MRR would provide safety boats and crews for the race. The first race in 2006 had sixteen boats; the next year the race field was limited to seventy-five. Despite the event’s incalculable toll on body and mind, the race now has an international following and continues to get bigger. That seems as much a mystery as the life-giving yet unforgiving river. 

“There’s a certain mental state that you have to get into that will not let you not get to that finish line.”  

Racers compete in several divisions, from solo to tandem and paddleboarding to five-person crews. The men’s and women’s solo paddle division records were both set in 2018. The women’s record-holder is international adventure and endurance racer Robyn Benincasa, with a time of 38 hours and 41 minutes. The men’s record was set by Joe Mann at 36:39.  

Schnarr said the ultra-competitive racers often outpace the field by wide margins. The first to arrive at the finish line in St. Charles will be 200 miles ahead of the boat furthest from the finish.  

The boats are also aptly named to reflect the competitive spirit or, more likely, the camaraderie of the race. Boats already registered for next month’s race include Soggy Bottom Bois, My Pace or Yours, Take Me Home Country Rows, Water We Doing, Forced Family Fun, Filthy Oars, Sloth Sisters (which are two women traveling from Florida), and La Vida Loca!. The latter is the boat that Bryan and Alma Hopkins will be rowing in the mixed tandem division.  

The Columbia couple will be on the river in tandem. Alma is 61, Bryan is 60. Alma is a retired registered dietician. Bryan is the Nature Conservancy’s director of freshwater conservation for Illinois and the upper Mississippi River. When their children were younger, Alma and the kids were the ground crew providing water, food, and other support for Bryan.  

“They grew up seeing their dad race for many years,” Alma said. “He did well. So it became a family affair.”  

When the kids became adults, the roles switched. Bryan decided to stop putting himself through the MR340, but Alma “started getting the bug,” she said. “So I pulled him out of ‘retirement,’ and we did it together three years in a row.” The last two years, with Bryan providing ground support, Alma raced with women rowing partners.  

Now it’s back to Alma and Bryan being in sync and trying to break their personal best of forty-three hours. (For comparison, eighty-five hours is the limit for finishing the race. Boats still in the water at hour eighty-five are disqualified.) Anything under forty-three hours will require even more effort than they’ve put forth in the past.  

“To beat that, it’s going to take everything — nutrition, hydration, a great boat, paying attention to each other,” she said, adding, “My husband is my best partner, hands-down.”  

The couple will not sleep and will only stop at check-in points long enough to stretch their legs.  

“Time is of the essence,” Alma said, then added almost whispering, “We do just about everything in the boat, and that includes some things you don’t really talk about in public. You do it while you’re paddling.”   

The sense of community on the river is sometimes as powerful as the restless river that never stops churning. Both Schnarr and Mansker mention, with a reverential air, that sense of community and connecting with the river. Mansker said he was 20 before getting on the river, similar to Schnarr’s recollection.  

“Everybody has their origin story,” Mansker said, noting that he and Schnarr first met at Cooper’s Landing, the iconic Boone County riverside marina and campground just south of Columbia. “Sometimes it’s just random events that get you [connected to the river]. Now with MRR and the 340, there’s a great pipeline for that.”  

That is the most gratifying aspect of the MR340, the educational work done by MRR, and the common bonds of community on the river, Mansker said.  

“The river has never had more fans than it does now,” he added.  

And that is music — river music? — to Schnarr’s ears.  

“Clean, fresh water is the most important thing for life, for any of us. We all need water,” he said, adding that several Missouri communities get their drinking water from the river. “The Missouri River has a lot of straws in it. We have got to protect these freshwater resources.”  

While the MR340 and MRR educational events and presentations bring greater awareness to the Big Muddy and its history, the river itself tells a never-ending story.  

“The river does this every single day,” Schnarr said. “You’re just borrowing its current.”