HAMPDEN – With no sunlight in sight, plenty of clouds, and temperatures in the low 40’s, 68 hardy souls still stomped through the snow and mud to take part in Saturday’s running of the 31st annual Souadabscook Stream Canoe Race.

Conditions may not have been ideal, but they didn’t seem to bother the two-man canoe team of Orono’s Jeff Owen and Cumberland’s Steve Woodard as they were the only race entrants to finish the 8-mile course in less than an hour.

The two paddlers showed why they are the whitewater national champions in OC2 (Owen is also a solo national champ canoeist) as they sliced through the fast-running water and navigated around plenty of hazardous rocks in 59 minutes, 31 seconds.

As impressive as their skill in the stream was, it was their terrestrial skill that won the race for them as they lifted their canoe over their shoulders at the mandatory portage on the drop just above Grand Falls and basically sprinted away from the canoeing duo of Dan Wagner of Belfast and Matt Dingle of Carmel.

Wagner and Dingle were basically stuck to the stern of Owen and Woodward until the portage. Even after watching Owen and Woodward literally run away from them there, Wagner and Dingle still finished just 45 seconds behind the winners.

The Souadabscook’s water level was surprisingly low despite the extra snowfall dumped in Maine this month, but all 39 boats that started the race finished. Some were a bit more waterlogged than others, however.

Veteran kayaker Earl Baldwin of Orrington was just one of those who took on more water than he wanted to. Still, he had fun.

“I got in the water beside a big rock,” said the 82-year-old Baldwin, who still finished the race – his 12th Souadabscook – in 1 hour, 24 minutes and 57 seconds. “I went to the wrong side and got rolled over. I was probably in there about four minutes or so.”

Fellow kayaker John Carter of Sedgwick saw Baldwin get in trouble and stopped to help.

“I had to stop and help a fella who got in trouble, so I didn’t worry about my time today,” the 57-year-old Carter joked.

Although Baldwin has the edge on Carter in racing experience this year as well as historically with this being his fourth race in this, his 41st consecutive year of racing, Carter still has paddling bragging rights of his own.

“This is my 19th Souadabscook race,” Carter said. “I usually do about 22 a year.”

Carter, who finished in 1:19, wasn’t immune to getting wet either.

“It was all right if you were paddling hard, but every time you went through a big wave, you were cold,” Carter said. “This is a lot lower than most of these races have been. I hit a lot of ledges I hadn’t hit before, so that made it a little rougher.”

Jared True of Carmel and paddling partner/neighbor Patrick Estey weren’t first-timers, as they both paddled in the 2003 Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race, but this was their first Souadabscook.

“It was about like we expected,” said True. “We kind of figured there would be lots of whitewater, we were planning on getting wet, and we figured some waves would come over the boat.”

“This was pretty fun. They had some good, solid rapids,” Estey added. “There was some deadwater early on, but nothing compared to the Kenduskeag. You hit the rapids a lot faster in this.”

The pair finished first in the OC-2 novice class with a time of 1:26.22.

“We just wanted to get back into it,” said Estey, 29. “I was just thinking about how fun it was doing the Kenduskeag and we’d never done this one, so I wanted to give it a try.”

So, it’s on to the Kenduskeag, right?

“Well… I haven’t talked to my partner yet about going next week so we’ll have to sit down,” Estey said with a smile. “Who knows? We might do this every year. You’ve got to get out and do something to get going this time of year.”