Canoe and Kayak Race is set for July 13 in Dover

The Tuscarawas River has regained its old function as a center for water sports in the area, and an annual Canoe and Kayak Race is set for Saturday, July 13 on the river beginning at 10 a.m. A mandatory prerace meeting will be held at 9:30 a.m. The race will begin at Canal Dover Park in Dover, where Poplar and Front streets meet.

“We start registering people at 8 a.m.,” said Mary Jo Monte-Kaser, race director. “You just register on the day of the race with no preregistration. We’ll be at the park setting up very early that morning.”

Registration for the race is $25 for adults and $15 for students under 17.

There are simpler divisions this year, with races of 3 miles and 10 miles, both in loops taking paddlers back to the launch site.

“We’ll have a mass start at 10 a.m.,” Monte-Kaser said. “The 10-mile race will make two 5-mile laps to the white bridge upstream. Any farther in that direction beyond the bridge and the water gets too shallow. The 3-mile race takes racers to the island and back.”

The race is sanctioned by the United States Canoe Association, which will govern rules for the day. Monte-Kaser is president of the Ohio division of the sanctioning organization. The entry fee includes a T-shirt and awards for the top three finishers in each class.

“We’ve never broken it up by age group, but it’s by boat class,” Monte-Kaser said. “We tell people to just bring whatever boat they have, that it’s fine.”

The 10-mile race offers six boat class divisions while the 3-mile paddle is divided into 13. Life jackets are required, especially for racers under age 16.

Though there have been 10 years of races on the Tuscarawas River beginning in 2011, there was a break of four race-free years before resuming three years ago.

Monte-Kaser is familiar with the Tuscarawas River, having practiced her paddling skills long before the riverfront park was in discussion. In fact, the success of the early races helped start the process of developing the overgrown riverfront.

“We had that first race,” Monte-Kaser said, “and 61 people showed up, which was fantastic. So I went to city council after that and said. ‘There needs to be a waterfront park down there.’ And now here it is.”

A concrete boat launch, picnic areas and open space mark the waterfront now, with decades of trees and weeds long gone. Monte-Kaser said her early career sessions on the river could only be accomplished by struggling through all the vegetation to reach the water. The Front Street section of the river was once a gathering place for area residents, with canoe liveries and plenty of activity.

The July race is sponsored by Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District, the Ohio Division of the United States Canoe Association and Historic Canal Dover Association. As the race date nears, check weather conditions and water levels at the group’s Facebook page, Tuscarawas River Canoe and Kayak Race.

“If it rains that day,” Monte-Kaser said, “that’s not a problem. If there’s lightening, we just sit it out until it passes.”

If the USGS gauge — Tuscarawas River below Dover Dam — is higher than 3.5 feet, the race will be canceled and not rescheduled.