Paddl ng wIth P ur P ose

Several White Rock residents are preparing to take on 340 miles of river

It is a hot, humid and ridiculously gusty spring afternoon at White Rock Lake. I wait at the lake’s edge and am surprised when a woman extends her hand and asks for help out of the water.

I panic. She’s submerged in the yucky waters of White Rock. I reach to rescue her and soon learn that, a) she is willingly in that water, and b) she is part of the crew that the Advocate is there to interview and photograph — a group of kayakers training at White Rock Lake for the world’s longest river race, the MR340 (that’s 340, as in miles).

Andhere’sthecrazypart:moments later, I am in her outrigger, paddling wildly against the waves (yes, 40 mile-per-hour winds cause powerful surf) and covered in water.

Ned Flottman, a veteran of the MR340, in which participants paddle from Kansas City to St. Charles, Mo., encouraged the little experiment. (“The last time a reporter interviewed me, she refused to get in a boat,” he chides. “Are you scared?”)

Flottman, who has recently moved from the White Rock Lake area to Louisiana, returned to his roots for a weekend to mentor and advise four White Rock-area residents training for the July 2011 event.

Steve Mahelona is an experienced kayaker, but his longest race to date has been about 18 miles, so he has some work to do before tackling the 340. Fortunately, he’ll be riding with experienced long-distance paddler Dan Grubbs.

Mahelona’s wife, Stacie, the aforementioned lady in the water, is ground support for team Hui Hoola, a Hawaiian term for “team” and “heal”. Through the race, TeamHuiHoolaisraisingmoneyfor Susan G. Koman for the Cure.

The Mahelonas, who met while racing outrigger canoes, have a personal connection to the cause.

“Just after we got married, we found out I had breast cancer,” Stacie Mahelona says.

“See, I am just now getting my hair back,” she says, pulling the cap from her head to reveal a shock of in-progress caramelcolored locks.

Steve Mahelona says he’ll tackle the distance in segments.

“I don’t know how it’s humanly possible to do the 340, so we will approach it in three segments,” he says. “That’s easier to digest and wrap my brain around.” neighborhood residents emily Loerke and her friend, emily McKeaigg, comprise another team training for the 340 in their kayak, River Rocket. The athletic women run and cycle, but this is their first hardcore experience with paddling.

The emilys, like the Mahelonas, are raising money, but in a different vein. McKeaigg and her husband spent years struggling with infertility before deciding to adopt a child. But the expenses run into tens of thousands of dollars, so Loerke, being a die-hard friend, hatched the plan to ask friends, family and readers of her blog, todaysletters.com, to each sponsor one mile of the race for $15. At 340 miles, that would bring in $5,100 toward the McKeaiggs’ adoption efforts.

When they hit that goal, Loerke celebrated.

“We were able to raise $5,160 in less than four weeks,” she wrote on the site. “This made us cry lots and even throw a few fist bumps and leg shimmies.”

They are still working to raise additional funds toward race expenses.

When Flottman was out of work and living in Dallas, he spent plenty of time circling White Rock Lake and envying the kayakers. After a relative raced the infamous MR340, Flottman — despite having never sat in a canoe, much less owning one — decided he was going to attempt the race, whose website touts the event as “not no mama’s boy float trip.”

Only about two-thirds of the 300-team field actually finished the race. Flottman was one of them.

“I was 182 out of 186 finishers, and it took about four days, but I finished.”

The winners finished in about 40 hours, he says.

McKeaigg and Loerke are eager to learn.

“We are a blank slate,” says Loerke, referring