The Race Course

Important Notes

• Start and Finish at Riverside Park in downtown Burlington, WI.

• Riverside Park is a Burlington Parks Dept facility - with washrooms, parking, and rain shelter. 

• The Pursuit runs through a looped river course - no need to shuttle cars.

• The Pursuit is spectator friendly. Paddlers will pass the start/finish line several times.

• Yearly conditions vary, but the fastest ever race time is 93 minutes.

• Distance is approximately 13 miles.

• All seeded classes, and the Open Class, run the same course.

• The river in Burlington can easily accommodate many canoes. But the loops do make for quite a bit of traffic out on the course.

• Except for a few hundred yards of deep water, most of the course is run at 1 to 5 feet deep.

• The river bottom is consistently gravel to hard mud.

• Fallen tree strainers, submerged logs, and shoreline obstructions are numerous on the upstream segments.

• If you tip going up, there are deep spots, but much of the course is under 5 feet of water, with a hard bottom to stand on.

• This is NOT a boat eating course. Experienced  paddlers will easily see the river signs for rocks and obstructions.

• Overall, Burlington's geology provides a winding course with a good mix of shallows, bogs, and deep water with stiff up and down current.

• You'll make quite a few crossings, and several hard turns.

• Racers say that combined, the course length, course layout and race format make the C1 Pursuit a unique and high intensity experience.

The C1-Pursuit is not a recreational canoe race.

The Fox River of Burlington, WI is  fast, tricky, cold, and  challenging to navigate in early spring.

Course difficulty increases with water level.

The sprint section downstream from the start can be swirly and very fast.

Every year someone takes a swim - somewhere along the Pursuit course.

 This event is intended for experienced marathon canoe racers only.

Do not enter if you're not absolutely certain that you do have the ability to race a marathon canoe over an intermediate/difficult river course in fast water and early spring  weather conditions.