Nearly 17 days after it left the Mississippi River headwaters in northern Minnesota, a canoe team of four intent on paddling the length of the river the fastest unofficially set the new Guinness world record overnight Friday when it reached the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana.
Minnesotan-led canoe team sets unofficial speed record on Mississippi River
In the middle of the night, crew reaches mouth of Gulf of Mexico after nearly 17 days and about 2,300 miles.
May 27, 2023 at 10:20PM
Covering more than 2,300 miles, the Mississippi Speed Record team was live on its Facebook page for the final push about 2:43 a.m. Saturday to mile marker zero on the river at Head of Passes. The team ran the river in 16 days, 20 hours and 16 minutes, besting the mark set in 2021 by another Minnesota-based team, MM Zero, in 17 days, 19 hours, 46 minutes.
"What an exciting 2 weeks this has been … Only seems like yesterday they started their adventure! If this doesn't motivate the adventurer in each of us, not sure what will," wrote one commenter among hundreds following along online.
"The team is very excited," said Todd Foster, the team's lead adviser, on Saturday morning.
Foster said the team "banked" time early in the attempt and that enabled the paddlers to get solid rest in spots — and even ride out bad weather if it materialized like in 2021.
Scott Miller of Minneapolis, who led the team, attempted the same feat with a different crew in 2021 and had to abort the adventure in a storm within about 150 miles of the finish.
After several hours of sleep Saturday, Miller said he was "tremendously satisfied."
"We had so many supporters and helpers and people invested in this," he added. "It sure is nice to finish the story in the way that we were hoping."
Reached at a floating hotel in Venice, La., Miller said the most harrowing moment the last 16-plus days was at a lock and dam in Iowa early on when the team, waiting for a barge to exit in fast water, needed an assist from its safety boat back upstream for fear of heading over a dam.
Guinness World Records will vet GPS data, photos, witness statements and more information from the attempt in its entirety to determine if the team's mark stands, Foster said.
Miller was looking forward to celebrating the achievement with the team Saturday night in New Orleans. That the odyssey began in his home state to points far away gives it an extra relevance, he said.
"This is a celebration of the river that starts in Minnesota," he added. "I love the epicness of the adventure."
None of the boat’s occupants, two adults and two juveniles, were wearing life jackets, officials said.
