A race not watered down by time

ORONO – Jeff Wren’s life has always circulated around one of his true loves – water.

Growing up, the Closter, N.J., native spent his summers at the Wavus Camps in Jefferson, along the northern shore of Damariscotta Lake.

Today, a major portion of Wren’s life is spent around the still water of the University of Maine’s Wallace Pool, where he is in his 21st year as a coach with the Black Bear swimming program.

Before his first case of junior high school puppy love, his affection for water was already in full bloom. Before he met and married his wife, Rae, there was that special crush on a colorless, transparent liquid, chemically made up of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen.

With all this aquatic background, is it any wonder one of the high points in Wren’s life came on the water?

Far from the tranquility of the warm summer days upon Damariscotta Lake and away from the humid, chlorinated atmosphere of the Wallace Pool, Wren spent one Saturday afternoon squaring off against water in one of its more volatile states – challenging the highest, most treacherous water in the states – challenging the highest, most treacherous water in the history of the Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race.

Here, the tale rewinds 14 years, back to 1978 when a 29-year-old Wren took on the Kenduskeag in a kayak – a brand new, 14-foot, 9-inch Match II boat.

Said then-race director Dale Theriault a few days before that year’s race, “I’ve never seen the river in this type of condition.”

Forget the other 252 craft entered in that year’s event. This was a case of man vs. nature, Wren vs. water. In the end, Wren won.

As a matter of fact, not only did Wren prove himself the best paddler that day, winning the race, but he also shattered the course record in becoming the first kayaker to break two hours. He finished in 1:55:20, shattering the mark of 2:02:45, set the year before by the two-man canoe entry of Bob and Mike Waddle of Brunswick.

This Saturday, when 700 or so craft make that same 16-mile trip from downtown Kenduskeag to downtown Bangor in the 26th version of this local spectacle, the ultimate goal of a few is to break that same record, which has withstood a 14-year test of time.

Earlier this week, Wren, sitting in his office overlooking the Wallace Pool, said he was not surprised the mark still stands. Nor will he be surprised when the mark finally falls.

“I never really thought about how long it would hold up,” he said. “I know now more about the flukiness of that river. I know the right combination of training and water level has to come together. I’m sure it will happen again. It may happen in five days or it may happen in five years.”

At least one person is surprised the record still stands.

“I expected (nine-time winner Robert) Lang to do it,” said Theriault, who has been involved with the race since 1968. “We haven’t had the water level that high since. But with all the records which have been broken, it’s odd it hasn’t.”

Lang, the only other participant to break the two-hour mark, is a former member of the Canadian National Kayak Team. With the impressive times he has turned in in the past, the fact the record remains says a lot about Wren, who is a four-time winner.

“I was in pretty good shape,” Wren said, understating the obvious. “I needed to train two or three hours a day to get in that type of shape. I just remember that I wanted to break two hours and set a record.”

He did both that day.

He paddled through the deadwater into Glenburn, took on the whitewater of Six Mile Falls, hustled through a pair of mandatory portages, and became the first entrant to finish in under two hours.

This year, Wren will be part of a contingent of canoeists in a multi-person war canoe.

Water had gotten the best of Wren many times before and has many times since. It could once again on Saturday.

But, on one day, at least, with conditions at their worst, Jeff Wren proved himself better. He still has the record to prove it.