BANGOR – For more than 20 years, a paddler named Mabee has been in the first boat to leave Kenduskeag Village during the April canoe race that bears the town’s name.

And for more than 20 years, a Mabee has watched as a faster and later-starting kayak passed his boat on the way to downtown Bangor.

On Saturday, J.R. Mabee and five of his friends again left the starting line of the Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race first, in a war canoe marked with the No. 1. But this time, Mabee did what he’s always wanted to do.

He finally got to Bangor first.

“Kenny Cushman, Fred Ludwig and his tandem kayak [always pass us],” Mabee said. “It definitely [feels good]. This may be the first time we’ve actually done it right, and got to come across first.”

That’s not to say that he and his crew – accomplished veteran paddlers Tammy Kelley, Clayton Cole, John Cangelosi, Leslie Winchester-Mabee and Billy Smith – actually won the 37th edition of the venerable race on Monday.

That honor went to Trevor MacLean, a marathon kayak specialist from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. He finished the 16.5-mile race in 2 hours, 12 minutes, 4 seconds. But since he left Kenduskeag 18 minutes after Mabee’s hard-paddling bunch, he never saw the war canoe … and got to Bangor second. MacLean also won the race in 2002.

Just getting to town first was good enough for Mabee, whose crew paddled a 26-foot, 150-pound boat that Smith created by taking a 20-foot boat, cutting it in half, and adding an extra section.

Mabee didn’t actually expect to win the race … though he thought the war canoe might give him the chance to finally avoid being passed on the way into town.

“We thought it would be a hoot just to run a war canoe in here, and we also knew it would be fairly competitive with the faster times of the day,” Mabee said.

Cushman was second in his long kayak (2:13:49), while Chip Loring and Jamie Hannon took third in a racing canoe (2:21:35). The Mabee boat was fifth overall in 2:25:07.

In all, 452 boats carrying 848 paddlers competed in the race on Saturday; 412 boats finished the course.

MacLean arrived in Bangor as the defending champ … and with some pretty impressive credentials: He finished 18th at the world marathon kayak championships in Spain last summer.

He made up the one-minute time differential he spotted Cushman at the starting line in the first five miles, built that advantage to about three minutes, then avoided a late disaster to win the race.

With less than a half mile to go, MacLean strayed to the side of the stream and found himself grounded on a sand bar.

“It sneaks up on you,” MacLean said. “It got shallow and I got caught up in some gravel. I had to jump out of the boat, carry it 10 or 15 feet, then get back in.”

MacLean had enough of a cushion by that point to afford the mishap, and while his margin of victory lessened, the incident didn’t put his overall win in jeopardy.

“[The race] went well. With the water conditions the river was a bit lower, a couple more rocks,” MacLean said. “All in all, it was a pretty smooth race. Nothing too scary.”

Cushman said MacLean’s Olympic flat-water boat proved faster on much of the course. He had hoped to make up time in the white water with his own downriver boat, but wasn’t able to erase his deficit.

“He had a pretty good advantage this year because the water level was low so there wasn’t a lot of big whitewater,” said Cushman, who gave his boat a patriotic paint job on Friday and turned it into a floating flag. “If there’d been bigger whitewater, I might have gained more in the end. Slowly, through all the whitewater, he kept getting closer and closer, and I could see him.”

Cushman had planned on paddling with Ludwig in Ludwig’s two-man racing kayak this year, but Ludwig is nursing a rib injury and wasn’t able to attend. By midweek he knew Ludwig wouldn’t race, and knew he’d paddle solo. Cushman admits that on a 16.5-mile journey … much of it over flat water … having someone else to talk to is preferable.

“It’s a lot more fun with someone else in the boat on such a long race,” Cushman said.

Many of the paddlers worked their way down river without aid of another paddler … and without anyone else to talk to.

Paula Jean Lunt was one of those, and her story proved interesting. At many local races, Lunt finds competition in the women’s short kayak division inconsistent. Some weeks, there are veteran woman’s paddlers. Other weeks, there aren’t.

For the Kenduskeag Stream race this year, she decided to assure herself a good race by making a change.

“Usually when I race there’s not many ladies,” said the lobsterwoman from Tenants Harbor. “At the St. George race there was one [other lady], Cheryl Levin. She hadn’t raced again until today. So I decided I’d race with the guys and push myself a little harder.”

Lunt ended up winning the “men’s” short kayak division with a time of 2:45:40. Levin, however, ended up posting the faster time – 2:44:23 – to win the women’s division.