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< September October 2006
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Marathon Man Paddler sets new 24-hour distance record

On May 4, Brandon Nelson paddled farther in 24 hours than anyone in history has without the benefit of current. Then he collapsed.

“When I realized I couldn’t stand up, I knew I left everything on the course,” says Nelson, who kayaked 146 miles around a two-mile course on Washington’s Lake Whatcom. When a horn sounded more than 22 hours into the marathon—signaling a new world record—the 34-year-old says he didn’t even have the energy to smile.

“From the first stroke through the end, I was focused on wringing every ounce of energy from my body,” he says.

The previous world record was 137 miles, set by South African kayaker Marinda Hartzenberg in 1991.

Nelson’s day on the water didn’t exactly play out as planned. Eight hours into the attempt, wind and waves cracked his ultra-light carbon-fiber kayak, which a team of engineering students had designed especially for the record attempt. Team leader Eric Leonhardt, director of the Vehicle Research Institute at Western Washington University, says the craft was built for calm water, not the choppy conditions Nelson encountered during much of the day.

After switching to a slower backup boat, Nelson says he doubted he could maintain a record-setting speed of just more than six miles per hour. But the students and Leonhardt worked frantically to repair the custom craft in less than six hours, and Nelson was able to switch back and resume world-record pace.

In addition to notching a new world record, Nelson raised almost $20,000 for a local hospice foundation. The effort honored Nelson’s mother, a Hospice worker who recently died from ovarian cancer.

Paddling as Team Kayak for Care, Nelson and his wife, Heather, then paddled the 460-mile Yukon River Quest race in June. Still not winded, Nelson is planning to break another world record, but for now he is keeping the details top secret. Info: www.kayakforcare.com.  —jm