First time on the White?
How to put a team together, train for 120 miles and get through race week. Written for first-time teams, crew advisors and Scout leaders.
Build your team
Choosing the right division and team size matters more than anything else you do before the race.
Beginner classes race only legs 2, 5 and 8, one per day, and are a good fit for younger or brand-new paddlers. Novice is for first-time teams and paddlers who haven't placed in the top three. Relay classes race every leg.
Compare divisionsDays 1 and 3 have three legs each. On a four-person relay team, two paddlers race twice on both of those days. Experienced teams can handle it, but newer teams should bring five or six paddlers. A four-person Novice team with no experience can enter Beginner as two two-person teams instead.
Youth classes are for ages 13 to 21. Adult/Youth teams must have one adult and one youth in the boat at all times. A unit can enter several teams, but each team needs its own adult and every paddler must be registered.
Team roles
Paddlers are only half of a team. Every team needs people on shore too.
The team's official voice for race meetings, rule questions, safety issues and anything disciplinary. Captains attend the race meeting every night and bring the news back to the team. Teams that miss required meetings can get time penalties.
An adult who follows the race by vehicle and gets paddlers to each quick change. The first boats reach Cotter about 1 hour 45 minutes after the start, so drivers should be there within an hour and a half. If paddlers aren't at the changeover when the boat arrives, the team waits or races on without them.
Sets up and breaks camp, cooks breakfast and lunch, cleans up, and loads and unloads boats and gear. Advisors and adults can't coach from boats on the water, but they can do a lot from the bank.
Training
Most legs take about two hours, and the 21-mile leg on Saturday can take over three. The current slows and the river widens on day 3, so it's the hardest paddling of the race.
“Rain or shine, we have always practiced five days a week. All of this hard work is done in preparation for the trip to Arkansas.”
A paddler with Explorer Post 313 of Bogalusa, Louisiana, the team with the most youth overall titles in race history. Read the story
Packing list
The gear in the first list is required. Boats are inspected at check-in on Wednesday.
There's no time to go back after the start, so pack up and eat first.
Paddlers are race-ready at the start with all their gear.
As soon as the boats are off, drivers head for the first quick change with the next paddlers.
The race clock keeps running during changes, so swap paddlers quickly and carefully.
Dinner is provided, and captains attend the race meeting for the next day's details.
Youth awards
Every paddler on a team placing first, second or third in their division gets an award. Scouting youth teams can also win these awards, many of them traveling trophies named for people who shaped the race.
Winners keep a traveling trophy for a year, engrave it and bring it back to the next race. The stories behind the names
Beginner teams aren't eligible for the overall or aluminum championship trophies because they don't paddle the full race.
Scout leaders: plan the trip like any other Scouting outing, following your council's requirements for Safety Afloat, Youth Protection and trip planning.