The first leg of the Triple Crown of Canoe Racing, the General Clinton Canoe Regatta has drawn the best marathon canoeists in the world to upstate New York since 1963. Early on the morning of Sunday, May 24th, paddlers will gather on Otsego Lake with 70 miles ahead of them. The usually flat lake will churn with blades flying everywhere as the professionals jostle for the best position.

The start of the race: Otsego Lake

Speaking on Paddlecast about this year’s top contenders, marathon canoe racing record-holder and podium regular Rebecca Davis says to watch which crews get into the lead coming off the lake into the mouth of the Susquehanna, because sprint speed is a notable strength for a couple of the crews racing this weekend and it could set them up to win.

Getting off the lake and into the mouth of the Susquehanna first is a big advantage: crews will face heavy traffic at the first portage at Mill Street Dam, and the next section of the river is narrow enough to make it hard to pass. But what will be more important than sprinting well off the lake is being the first crew to Goodyear Dam.

25 miles into the race is the most challenging of the three portages, where racers must climb up a steep bank through the woods to cross Goodyear Dam and reach some of the fastest water on course. The rapids in this section are tricky enough to break boats in high water years, though the forecast for this year’s water level is looking average or slightly above-average. Rebecca says: “I would really pay attention to who goes over Goodyear Dam first… Whoever can get their speed up and be the first to hit that fast water, usually later in the race they can do that again.”

Marathon Canoe Racing versus Marathon Canoe Racing

Often called “sit and switch” style canoeing, or “digging”, the discipline of marathon canoe racing at the General Clinton Canoe Regatta and Triple Crown of Canoe Racing is best suited to the narrow, twisty rivers that criss-cross North America. This kind of marathon canoe racing exists in Europe, and the European-style marathon canoe racing exists in the US and Canada, but at much smaller participation levels compared to each region’s more popular discipline. And that’s not to forget the many other unique types of marathon canoe racing around the world, like the 3-person seated canoes used in La Ruta Maya in Belize or the famously tippy cayucos of Panama.

The strongest marathon canoe racers at the Triple Crown tend to come from Michigan, New York, Texas, and Quebec – all centres for some of the biggest canoe races. The General Clinton Canoe Regatta draws all those paddlers to one place: Cooperstown, New York.

The 70 miler isn’t just a good challenge racing tough competition: there’s more than $25,000 of prize money up for grabs, and as the first race in the Triple Crown, a good Clinton sets the tone for the rest of the season and counts toward the final Triple Crown rankings. From the 70 mile Clinton in May, the Triple Crown moves to Michigan in July for the Ausable River Canoe Marathon, and finishes in Quebec in September with the Classique de Canots. This weekend, many racers will be testing a new pairing that they’ll stick with all season, or simply aiming to finish as high as possible to try and win the Triple Crown.

The Susquehanna is its own character in how the race plays out

Of the Triple Crown races, the Clinton covers the shortest distance, but offers the most challenging course. The water level and weather changes every year, sometimes changing what a team needs to win the race: pure endurance and heat management in a hot, low water year or well-honed technical skill in rapids and swirls when the water is high. There are multiple strategic break points where a top crew could easily be left behind if something small goes wrong.

Of the three big races, Rebecca describes the Susquehanna as having the most character, or being the biggest player in how the race happens. Now on her 14th race start, she sees it as a puzzle to solve: “As a younger athlete, I used to think it was by far the most challenging. And it still probably is the most challenging in some ways. But where I used to dread what it would throw at me, now I look forward to that challenge.”

Rebecca’s predictions

There’s no one better than Rebecca Davis to dive into the strengths of each of the top crews, and what this year’s Clinton may hold for them. Rebecca is one of the most accomplished marathon canoe racers ever, and has been the fastest woman (or at least one of the fastest) for more than 15 years. She holds the women’s record for the Ausable River Canoe Marathon (15:15:36 in 2019 with Edith MacHattie) and the overall canoe record (Canadian Doubles) for the Devizes to Westminster race in the UK (18:23:48 in 2016 with Mike Davis) and constantly pushes the limits of how highly women’s and mixed crews are expected to finish in the overall standings.

Rebecca comes from a paddling family: her mother, Roxanne Barton (nee Triebold) is a very accomplished paddler as is her father, Bruce Barton (a former Olympian); and of course her uncle is the multiple Olympic medallist and founder of Epic Kayaks, Greg Barton. In part from her family, but also from her own experiences and drive to learn and improve, Rebecca holds some of the most in-depth technical knowledge of marathon canoeing of any paddler. She shares some of that knowledge regularly as a host of the Canoe Race World Podcast, and on the latest episode of Paddlecast.

Looking at the entry list for this year’s General Clinton, she’s most excited for the women’s race (which she’s competing in), but the top contenders in the mixed and men’s fields are equally too close to call.

The women’s race

Each of these four crews is strong, and while Rebecca / Cecili and Mary / Mandy have the strongest track records and experience, they should all be well-matched for a great race.

P9 Rebecca Davis / Cecili Bugge. If any of these four crews are the favourites, it would be Rebecca and Cecili. The last time Rebecca raced the Clinton and didn’t win her class was 10+ years ago. Last year, Rebecca won the Mixed race with Ryan Stepka (8th Overall) while Cecili was 2nd Mixed (10th Overall) with Danny Medina. Rebecca and Cecili finally teamed up together in Quebec for the Classique de Canots and quickly found their rhythm: they were the quickest women’s crew, faster than all but two mixed crews, finished 14th place overall; and their cumulative time over all three stages was 14:10:34, less than one hour behind the overall winners Mike Davis / Guillaume Blais. Asked about their advantage as a team, Rebecca cited their technical skills and teamwork: of all four crews, they’ve spent the most time together in C2, and, she says, “We’re both really comfortable with each of our duties in the boat”.

P7 Mary Schlimmer-Willoughby / Mandy Trudgeon. It’s just as easy to make the case for Mary Schlimmer-Willoughby and Mandy Trudgeon as favourites to win. Hailing from upstate New York, Mary has finished the Clinton 16 times. Since her first race in 2009, the only year she missed was 2020 when the race didn’t run. Last year, she won a highly competitive C4 class as part of team “Delta Forge”. They won by 1 minute and 1 second ahead of Team ZRE (all men). For Mandy, it will be her first time racing the Clinton C2 (she raced C4 in 2017), but she’s in excellent hands with Mary and she has plenty of racing experience including winning the women’s category in the Ausable back in 2001 at just twenty years old.

Two of the biggest names in the sport, Rebecca and Mary have a longstanding friendship and rivalry, and fans will get to look forward to this being the first time they’ve raced the Clinton against each other in the same class since 2017 (Rebecca won the Mixed class that year with Mike Davis).

P8 Kelly Truitt / Megan Roberts. Having entered under the team name “3rd Time’s a Charm”, multi-disciplinary paddlers Kelly and Megan are hoping 2026 is their year to win. They raced together in 2022 and 2024, finishing as runners up both times behind Sarah Lessard / Mary Schlimmer-Willoughby (2022) and Michelle Laprade / Edith MacHattie (2024). Kelly and Megan are both decorated paddlers in international dragonboat racing and regular podium finishers on the East Coast outrigger canoe racing circuit.

P40 Frances Hiscox / Gloria Wesley. Thanks to Gloria’s illustrious 23 completed races, this is the crew with the highest number of combined Clinton finishes. Gloria raced her first Clinton in 2001, and as much as she’s a legend of the sport, Rebecca thinks she still gets underrated sometimes: “Her mixed results were at a time before women were consistently getting top 5 men’s partners to be your mixed partner, and she was still putting out those super high level results.” Frances finished 7th place Mixed last year with Andy Hall, and went on to finish 6th place Mixed at the Ausable. Gloria and Frances haven’t raced together much previously, but if the stars align, they could have a great race.

The mixed race

At Quebec’s season opener, two of the leading contenders to win the mixed race at the Clinton finished just 5 seconds apart: Eve Chamberland / Vincent Bellemare and Sarah Lessard / Vincent Desilets. It’s not just having one Vincent in each boat that makes these crews so similar. Rebecca says: “I think it’s going to be really close. We have three really similarly built teams: 3 really solid strong bowmen, and three women who are now really experienced top 3 mixed partners.”

The third crew is Lydia Huelskamp / Austin Weiler, who finished 3rd place Mixed at the Ausable last year. That was behind Eve and Sarah, who were racing with different partners. All three crews finished the 15+ hour race within ten minutes of each other. Lydia has been paddling with the Rankinens since moving away from Texas, and Rebecca advises: don’t underestimate her.

Eve and Sarah are both experienced top paddlers, though Sarah has the edge in terms of more Clinton finishes: 11 to Eve’s 4. Rebecca expects Sarah to be the strongest starter, as she has the most explosive speed. But even if it is Sarah and Vincent Desilet who lead coming off the lake, Eve and Vincent Bellemare could still get to Bainbridge first. Rebecca says, “I expect them to gain steam throughout the race.”

Three more mixed crews have an outside shot at the podium, including Joe Schlimmer / Phoebe Fisher, Ben Schlimmer / JoAnn Olney, and Andy Hall / Bridget Hall. Joe and Phoebe are local, with 31 finishes between them. They’re both great paddlers, and they’ll know the course like the back of their hands. Ben and Jo are also an “All-NY” team, and Rebecca describes them as a “return to form team”, saying: “I have no idea how they’re going to do in the overall, but I know they’re going to have so much fun out there. And if they hit the right day, they can be competitive.”

The father-daughter duo of Andy and Bridget could be the dark horse. Andy is an experienced racer with 11 Clinton finishes, and while it’s Bridget’s first Clinton race, her paddling is going well and Rebecca named her as a “paddler to watch” this season on her Canoe Race World podcast.

The men’s race

The battle for the overall win last year came down to the last few miles, and it’s looking like it could be the same this year if not even closer.

Defending champions Mike Davis / Guillaume Blais are back after winning 2 out of 3 Triple Crown races last year. They just missed out on the official Triple Crown win though after Weston Willoughby / Travis Mecklenburg, who were 3rd at the Clinton, took a sizable win at the Ausable.

Weston and Travis are both back to race the Clinton again this year, but with different partners. Weston is racing with Ryan Zaveral (Team ZRE) and Travis with Logan Mynar, who was 2nd at last year’s Clinton.

Mike and Guillaume could be the favourites to win again, but their win last year came after a “slow” start: they were in 5th coming off the lake, and only caught back up to the front group after Milford. Making the most of their experience and decision making, they took advantage of a couple of shortcuts to get into first place before Bainbridge. Rebecca is a bit biased since she’s married to Mike, but acknowledges that the crew’s advantage is not in raw speed: “They don’t have any one thing that’s super flashy, but they both know how to win a race.”

One crew with plenty of raw speed is Travis Mecklenburg / Logan Mynar. Rebecca says, “Travis and Logan are probably the most athletic team, they have a lot of natural ability.” Pure speed is also an advantage for Weston Willoughby / Ryan Zaveral, and Rebecca expects this crew to push the pace right from the start. That strategy worked for Weston when he and Travis won the Ausable last year. These two crews will be very well matched, but any other crew who can stay with them will still be in it with a chance.

Youth and experience come together in the crew of Dane Trudgeon (19) and Matt Meersman (49). Racing with Ryan last year, Dane finished 5th overall. Matt has 11 finishes but last raced in 2023, when he finished 5th with Weston. Rebecca says: “They’re going to have that efficiency component… they’re going to be very smooth, very smart. If anyone’s letting them hang around, you may regret it later in the race.”

How to watch the General Clinton Canoe Regatta live

Head over to the Paddler Media channel on YouTube to watch the race live all day Sunday May 24th. The stream will be live by 7:30 am (the time of the pros start) and will mainly focus on the C2 pro race, but should also catch some of the C1, C4, and amateur and stock paddlers headed down river to Bainbridge.

Thanks to the General Clinton Canoe Regatta for making this coverage possible, and to the live stream sponsors Sidney Federal Credit Union and Madison Window & Doors, with additional support from Zaveral Racing Equipment (ZRE) and Cooperstown Chalet Village.

Want to make sure you get the full insights on all these top contenders so you’re ready to watch the race on Sunday? Listen to the full episode of Paddlecast on Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.