SMGA Trail Crew-zer Team: Adventures in Paddling

This account comes from Mark Taylor, former SMGA president and member of SMGA Trail Crew-zer Team. Joining him were current SMGA president Diane Phalen and board member Scott Henize.

The good news? We made good time through the first three checkpoints and got cheers from lots of people who recognized the SMGA logo on our boat! The bad news? About 2:30 a.m. Sunday, we hit a snag in a fast section of the river below Palmetto State Park, and our boat bent into a “V” around the snag, taking us out of the race. We were unhurt, and a Water Safari rescue team picked us up at daybreak and took us to a downstream bridge where our support team (Trail Crew members Brandon Smith, Pat Egan and Gordon Holt, and city HCP manager Melani Howard and her daughter Morgan) was waiting. It was a bittersweet end to our race, but who knows—we may have begun a new SMGA Trail Crew tradition!