After nine days and hundreds of miles paddling down the state’s waterways, the 2024 Great Alabama 650 race is mostly a done deal.
This was the sixth year in which the race, presented by the Alabama Scenic River Trail, has challenged kayakers (and, more recently, paddleboard pilots) to travel a winding route from Weiss Lake in Cherokee County to Fort Morgan at the mouth of Mobile Bay. Among the feats accomplished in the sixth year of the event: A Baldwin County woman joined the elite club of five-time finishers and a Florence man claimed the overall win for the second year in a row.
Based on the online tracking map and leaderboard, it appeared the last three racers on the course were all in lower Mobile Bay early Tuesday morning, closing in on the finish with about eight hours left to go. The race started at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 20, with a 10-day limit.
Trey Reaves of Florence, Ala., who won the 2023 edition in 6 days, 1 hour and 31 minutes, repeated as overall winner and men’s solo winner this year. According to a video posted by race organizers, he finished with an overall elapsed time of 7 days 8 hours and 14 minutes. (Note: Total elapsed times are not the official result times. Official times will be lower, after the duration of mandatory breaks at portage stops is subtracted from the overall time.)
Asked what was most memorable about his race this year, Reaves said “everything up until the Bay. I mean, the Bay is going to be the most memorable thing, for sure, because it was so bad. But it was a magical run this year down to the Bay.”
Trey Reaves celebrates as he approaches the finish of the 2024 Great Alabama 650. (Courtesy of Alabama Scenic River Trail)Courtesy of Alabama Scenic River Trail
The passage of Hurricane Helena to the east made for less-than-tranquil conditions on Mobile Bay over the weekend, though the storm’s devastating path passed hundreds of miles away. The storm had other impacts on the race: Five-time finisher and three-time winner Bobby Johnson, a resident of Clearwater, Fla., dropped out after three days, saying he made the decision “due to a possible hurricane coming by the house.”
Afterward, Johnson said on Facebook that Reaves and he “went back and forth” over the first 200 miles and it would have been “a battle to the end.” Johnson seconded that, saying their friendly rivalry was a motivating factor. “It’s easy to push whenever Bobby’s here, because you know that if you don’t get out in front of Bobby by the time you get to the Bay, Bobby’s going to beat you. There’s no doubt about it. You’ve got to have miles.”
David Miller finished second overall and in the male solo category with an overall elapsed time of 8 days, 5 hours and 14 minutes. Mirko Pruefer followed with a time of 8 days, 10 hours, 26 minutes.
Ryan Gillikin, featured in an AL.com article published before the start of this year’s race, finished Monday morning. She came in fourth overall with a time of 8 days, 23 hours and 25 minutes and won the female solo category. Additionally, this was the fifth time she completed the race, meaning she became the third person ever recognized as a member of the “3,250 club” of five-time finishers. She also won the inaugural 2019 event as part of a tandem team, so this was her second first-place finish.
Ryan Gillikin became a five-time finisher of the Great Alabama 650 in the sixth edition of the race.Lawrence Specker | [email protected]
“It was hard,” Gillikin said just afterward, in a video posted by race organizers. “The first three days were hot. We had to push. … we pushed really hard the first three days, it really tore me down. Then the middle part of the race kind of builds you back up. Then the bay crossing knocks you down again.”
Rewards included seeing some beautiful sunrises and meeting some “fun people,” she said.
John Knippers rounded out the Top Five. In 2023. he became the first competitor ever to complete the race on a stand-up paddleboard, and he repeated the feat in 2024.
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He was followed by Jessica Nance and Candi Hill, who won the tandem division, and Joseph Bolton, one of the owners of Pro Cycle & Tri in Fairhope.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Lindsey Tilton had passed the last checkpoint and moving along the Fort Morgan peninsula, on her way becoming the first female to finish on a paddleboard.
Dirk McCall of Fairhope, a paddleboarder attempting the race for the first time, found himself among those who withdrew early. In an account posted on Facebook, he said his first attempt had been a learning experience. Among other issues, he found that the weight of gear he was carrying made his board unstable at the start.
By the time he got to Henry Neely Lake he was suffering from back pain but he was also having fun learning how to surf powerboat wakes to increase the speed of his self-made board. He opted to withdraw on Day Two, seeing that he was under-supplied and unlikely to make an upcoming time cutoff.
“I had paddled 87 miles in 34.5 hours without sleep – a new personal best,” he wrote. “I was so surprised I felt as good as I did on day 2. I really blew the race on the first day.”
McCall said he’d decided to do the race in July, as his mother was dying. She’d been active in water aerobics until the end, and “she encouraged me to exercise and use my body as long as I could,” he wrote.
“I will be 60 years old next year when I give the Alabama650 another go,” he said.
For more on the event, visit www.alabamascenicrivertrail.com.