On Saturday, Sept. 30, 20 people will paddle small watercraft away from the shore of Weiss Lake northeast of Gadsden, aiming to cover the length of the state in a virtually nonstop feat of extreme endurance racing.

By the time finishers beach their craft at Fort Morgan, seven to 10 days later, they will have seen Alabama in a way that few people ever do. Greg Wingo, race director for the Alabama Scenic River Trail’s Great Alabama 650, said experience leaves him absolutely certain that the fifth edition of the race will change their view of the state.

“The are 100% across the board blown away by the variety of things that they see throughout the 650 miles,” he said of past competitors. “Almost all of them come in with either no perceived notion of what they’re going to see, or a completely different perceived notion. They all leave with just this awe about what the experience is like. And that’s everything from the way that the water changes to the way that the landscape changes, going from essentially the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, to these white cliff walls they’re paddling through, to these vast farmland areas to the delta region.”

“They all talk about how crazy the wildlife is,” he said. “We’ve seen everything … From alligators to sharks and stingrays, to bears, to snakes, to deer, to wild boar. We get competitors that see everything. And that truly makes our race unique. There’s no other race out there, no other race out there like this that you can see an alligator and a bear within the exact same vicinity and then half a day later you have dolphins and sharks with you. And they all see these things.”

That’s all part of the plan. Wingo said that when the Alabama Scenic River Trail (ASRT) approached him a few years ago about setting up a race, the group’s leaders had a goal in mind. The ASRT’s mission is to promote awareness of the state’s waterways as a resource for tourism and recreation and to support improved access for paddlers. Its activities include making grants that help fund water access, serving as a clearinghouse for information on campsites and other resources, putting up mile markers along paddle trails and helping introduce children to paddling.

The race has helped get the word out both within the state and outside of it, he said. “We do get a lot of attention within the paddling world and the racing world,” he said. Recent examples include a story at outdoors.com, a site cofounded by celebrity adventurer Bear Grylls.

Closer to home, Wingo said, there’s a hope the race will help get Alabamians “to get excited about our waterways and wanting to get out there, not necessarily to race, but just to paddle all these different types of waters.”

There is a home-grown spectator base for the race, he said, and it has grown thanks to a tracking system that provides almost real-time information about where the competitors are. The racers do spend a lot of time alone on isolated stretches of water, he said, but promotional materials note that “spectators can cheer for racers on riverbanks in Gadsden, Pell City, Wetumpka, Montgomery, Selma, Fairhope, and more.” All along the route, the tracking system helps people identify local spots where they can get a look at the racers as they pass.

And that’s something organizers encourage, he said.

“What we encourage people to do is follow our Facebook page [www.facebook.com/GreatAlabama650] because on there we are constantly updating with videos, live videos, photos, updates on where racers are. That’s the easy spot to see what’s been happening,” he said. But anyone wanting more specific data can find continuously updated tracking at www.al650.com.

“If somebody is in your area, you can know when they’re going to be coming through. You can walk out there and cheer them on, they love it,” he said. “In general, most races are not a spectator sport within long-distance paddle sport. There’s a few that are. We’re one of the few that people really are out there all along the route. Even if it’s one person, it goes so far for these racers in terms of morale, to have somebody out there cheering them on.”

The 2023 Great Alabama 650 starts at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 30, in the northeastern section of Weiss Lake northeast of Gadsden. In addition to the sites already mentioned, spectators can find social media updates by the tags @GreatAlabama650 and #AL650.

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