HAMPDEN – A half-mile stretch of the course was still frozen over, a stiff wind dropped the temperatures into the mid-teens with the wind chill, and high levels made for some fast water – not exactly ideal conditions for novice paddlers.

Alas, that’s what greeted the 61 hardy souls in 36 boats who competed in the 25th Souadabscook Stream Canoe Race Saturday afternoon.

Then again, most of those hardy souls were accomplished paddlers, such as overall race winner and kayaker Steve Moser.

“I loved these conditions. I would take the bigger waves any day,” said Moser. “This was one of the few races I’ve done where I didn’t have to patch it up right after it was over.”

Moser finished the 81/2-mile course in 52 minutes, 52 seconds to win it for the third time in nine attempts. Win or lose, it would have been a good day for the 44-year-old Hampden resident, since he has missed the last two Souadabscook races due to injuries.

“I didn’t paddle at all last year because I had rotator cuff surgery,” Moser explained. “So this was good. I made a couple mistakes where I got my bow stuck in eddies and sputtered around, but I had fun, I didn’t get wet, and it’s better than sitting around at home.”

The best time turned in by a canoe was a blazing 57:39 by the two-man recreational team of Holden’s Justin Wardwell and Bangor’s Greg Dorr.

The themes of the day were having fun, beating cabin fever, getting exercise, or all of the above.

Take Swanville’s Ralph Robertson and his nine-year-old son River (yes, that’s his real first name), who paddled a two-man rec canoe in the junior-senior division and finished second in the class with a time of 1:12:02.

“We haven’t done this one [together] before. It was wild,” said Ralph Robertson, a 16-year canoe/kayak race veteran. “It’s a great family activity. My wife and my daughter also paddle.”

This was the third father-son collaboration for the Swanville duo. Unfortunately for them, they won’t be able to paddle the Kenduskeag together next weekend due to a minimum age (10) requirement for the race.

Both Robertsons had some trouble with the mandatory portage, which was located one mile into the race and made necessary by the ice still choking Hammond Pond.

“All the drops were pretty hard. It was a long walk,” said the shy River Robertson, who was otherwise mute for any other questions.

The portage involved paddlers debarking near the bend in the stream almost intercepting Interstate 95 and walking, running, or dragging themselves and their canoes/kayaks a half-mile on land before putting back into the water.

“It was tough, but it went a lot smoother than I thought,” said Orono resident and University of Maine student Bryan McCarthy, who finished third overall and second in the one-person long kayak class with a time of 58:31. “There wasn’t a huge crush of people this year, so it was easier to get out and get the kayak up without banging into other people.”

Another saving grace was the location of the ice-forced portage. Where it came so early in the race, most paddlers, especially kayakers, didn’t have a chance to get cramped up in their boats before having to get out and try to run on unwilling legs.

McCarthy, who works for Maine Bound, spends his summers as a sea kayak guide in the Bar Harbor/Blue Hill area.

“It’s funny because I spend the whole summer in a boat, so I’m in great shape by fall, but this is only my second time in a boat this year,” McCarthy said. “Before today, the only paddling I did was up on Pushaw the other day.”

Neither the Robertsons nor McCarthy dumped during the race, but McCarthy did have to execute two Eskimo rolls in the bone-chilling water, which contained the occasional chunk of ice speeding its way downstream.

“The whole secret of racing is to stay in the boat,” Moser said with a laugh. “It is for me anyway.”

Defending champ Ken Cushman and runner-up Jeff Sands opted not to race Saturday.