The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

gPaddler keeps tackling Missouri â€" and 340â€"mile river race Bill Lanning ventured to the waters of the Missouri River for a paddling expedition last month. But for the 67-year-old Bal- lantrae resident, it wasn’t to take in the sights of what this mighty river in the United States had to ofier. The former Sun-Tribune photographer’s objective was to paddle a 340â€"mile course from Kansas City to St. Charles, Mo., in the Missouri River 340 Race. With competitors hailing from the United States, Great Britain and Canada in what’s known as the world's longest non-stop river race, Lanning entered the men's solo event and completed the gruelling course in 79 hours and 36 minutes. That clocking enabled Lanning to finish 67th out of 92 paddlers in his competitive division. “For the most serious particiâ€" pants. the objective .is to finish Out of 194 entrants overall in the event, he was 142nd. The oldest paddler in his diviâ€" sion, Lanning was proud of the fact he met his objective in com- pleting the race in under a tar- geted time of 80 hours. BY MICHAEL HAYAKAWA mhayakawa®yrmg.com “Being the old man of the group Iwasin, Iwas pleasedwithhowl did. I really wanted to finish the race and to do it in under 80 hours. That’s the fun part of it,” he said. the race and a lot of people don’t finish it. Making his debut in this event four years ago after finding it on the Internet, Lanning’s best finish was that year where he was let out of 75 entrants. I DIABETIC Since that time, though, Lan- ning was quick to note the event, which began five years ago and is run under licensing of the US. Coast Guard and conducted under a full moon and under flood level conditions, continues to flourish. At the same time, he under- goes a fairly rigourous training It’s gone from 17 boats the first year to the well over 100. At the same time, he noted it’s now to the point where there’s more younger competitors and even some entrants who are semi- professionals with sponsorship. To keep up, Lanning takes a serious approach. Having paddled since he was five years old is definitely an asset for Lanning. When Lanning can utilize his vessel, a handcrafted 18-foot Kruger DreamCatcher made of composite Fibreglas and valued at between $5,000 and $6,000, he will paddle from eight to 10 hours a week schedule that includes riding sta- tionary and mountain bikes. 7 He trains at Canal lake, Frenchman’s Bay or the Toronto harbour. Being a Type 2 diabetic, Lan- ning also credits the support he’s received from his daughter Carrie and wife, Carol. The pair serve as his ground crew and meet him at the race’s eight mandatory check- points to resupply him with water, food, protein whey drinks and have a tent ready for him to sleep in between stops. “My job is just to paddle, said. At some point, though, he hopes one of those appearances will be in the tandem event with daughter Carrie. “In this event you’re pushing yourself physically and at my age it takes a little while longer to recover,” he said with a laugh. Lanning intends to continue the annual pilgrimage. That is, providing he can remain physically able. "he Ballantrae’s Bill Ianning and his handcrafted 18-foot Kruger DreamCatch- er completed a Missouri River race this year in just under 80 hours.