More than 30 kayakers from as far as New York and Kentucky gathered at Betty’s Branch Saturday morning for the Serene 18 Paddle Races.
Outdoor Augusta hosted the event, partnering with the Columbia County Convention and Visitors Bureau, which launched the Serene 18 campaign three years ago to draw travelers to the county.
The Serene 18 paddle trail consists of 18 square miles of paddle trails, divided into five sections along Clarks Hill Lake, the Augusta Canal and the Savannah River.
Saturday morning’s race challenged kayakers to paddle the six-mile Betty’s Branch route, starting from the boat ramp at Riverside Park in Evans.
“Kayaking is a big sport that has taken a new form since quarantine, because it was kind of the only thing you could do during that time period,” said Amy Colbert, who owns Outdoor Augusta with her husband Andy Colbert. “So the paddle race is just another way to keep the movement.”
The Visitors Bureau and Outdoor Augusta began planning for the boatrace in March, to attract kayaking enthusiasts. The marketing for the paddling trail won the Visitors Bureau a U.S. Travel Association’s Destiny Award and a Georgia Association of Convention and Visitors Bureau’s TravelBlazer Award in 2021.
“Serene18 has been incredibly popular; we know that people want more after they’ve completed the program. They’re always looking for the next thing,” said Shelly Blackburn, executive director of the Visitors Bureau. “So, we thought what better way than to actually do a race and have people to come out and enjoy Betty’s.”
Outdoor Augusta already had some experience coordinating paddle races, as it hosts its Betty’s Bash paddle race every June as a fundraising benefit for the wild donkeys on Stallings Island.
The Serene18 race is part of the Southeastern Paddle Sports Series, which organizes similar competition throughout the region, judging participants by a range of categories, divided by experience and by sex, including those for 16, 14, 12 and 10-foot recreational kayaks, 14 and 12 and a half standup paddle boats, and sea kayaks and surf skis. The overall fastest record in Saturday’s race was 49 minutes.
“In June, nobody broke an hour,” said Andy Colbert, comparing Saturday’s turnout with that of the Betty’s Bash event. “[Today] we had probably four or five people breaking an hour. We had some more high tier racers came out.”
The bureau and Outdoor Augusta aim for this to be the inauguration for an annual event, with future races hosted at different routes on the Serene18 trail.
Amy Colbert hopes to encourage more visitors to come and spectate the event — as attendees comprised mostly of participants in the race — as well as stir up more interest in the sport, regardless of familiarity or experience.
“It was really amazing to sit out there and listen to people in the open on the water cheering for each other,” she said. “It can be your first race, and it can be really fun and you can feel accomplished without having to feel like you need the fastest time. And then it’s just fun out here. This little outdoor society is a really welcoming, fun group. Everybody’s out here to just enjoy themselves in the moment.”
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
