2024 RACE IS BACK IN PERSON!
THE 66th ANNUAL MOTHER'S DAY WHITEWATER RACES Will be held May 10-12, 2024 on the rio grandE in Beautiful Pilar, nm.
2024 REGISTRATION Is OPen, see below. Day of registration will be available Saturday 9-9:45am for downriver races and 4-4:45pm for raft races.
See the full schedule here
You may register day of at Quartzite.
Register Now for the 65th Mother’s Day Whitewater Races in Beautiful Pilar, NM! May 10-12th, 2024
AWC events are insured through the ACA. If you are an ACA member, please provide your ACA number and expiration date when registering.
If you are not an ACA member please pay the $10.00 ACA event Insurance fee here.
Thank You to Our 2024 MDR Sponsors!
2021 RACE HAS GONE VIRTUAL.
THE 63RD ANNUAL MOTHER'S DAY WHITEWATER RACES (Take 2) Will be held as a virtual event in May, 2021. Register below!
This year’s race will be a little different. Once you register you will automatically be entered into the prize drawings. You can also earn two additional chances to win by doing the following during the virtual event:
Paddle the Rio Grande Racecourse and submit a Strava (or other activity tracker) record of your run
Film and submit a 30-second Rodeo or Surf Session on any wave or hole in New Mexico
Registration is open now and will close at 11:59pm Mountain Time on May 31st.
Additional entries (described above) will only count if they take place during the virtual event (12:01am Mountain Time May 8th - 11:59pm Mountain Time May 31st).
Prizes will be announced at the June 13th Adobe Whitewater Club Meeting.
All Prizes must be picked up locally in Albuquerque. Prizes do not have a cash value.
If you wish to purchase additional entries in the prize draw, simply use the link above to register multiple times!
This year’s prizes include:
Aquabound Shred 4-piece Kayak Paddle
Watershed Ocoee Drybag
Immersion Research Clothing
And More!
Sponsors
Thank you to all of the sponsors below for their support of the 2019 Mother’s Day Whitewater Races!
Sponsors for 2020 will be revealed soon!
2019 EVENT Schedule
(all photos by Britt Runyon)
Friday May 8
4:00pm | Campground Opens
7:00pm | Dutch Oven Cook Off (Dishes Ready at 7pm!)
Saturday May 10
8:30am | Volunteer Meeting
9:00-9:45am | Day-Of Registration
Please Note: for 2020, Day-Of Registration prices are going up, so register early!
10:00am | Downriver Races Start (Long/Short Kayak, SUP, Canoe)
11:30am | Slalom Races Start (Kayak, Canoe, SUP)
1:00pm | Downriver Rodeo/Freestyle (location TBD based on flows)
3:00pm | Family Race
5:00pm | Downriver Race Start (R4/R6)
7:30pm | Awards and After Party
Sunday May 11
9:00am | Community Racecourse/Taos Box/Other Runs Paddle (Self-Organized)
Celebrating 63 Years of
Mother's Day Whitewater Races
The Mother’s Day Races were founded in the 1950’s by Los Alamos paddle boater and LANL employee, Jim “Stretch” Fretwell. After competing at Colorado’s FiBark for many years, Stretch decided to start a paddle race closer to home on the Rio Grande, now known as the Pilar Racecourse. The races were supported by Los Alamos’s Explorers: Post 20, The Atomic City Citizens Band Radio Club, The Los Alamos Fire Department to name a few. By the late 1960’s, an estimated 2000 spectators leap frogged their way downstream on Highway 68 to watch rafts and kayaks twist and turn through the whitewater.
Stretch eventually handed it over to the Adobe Whitewater Club who valiantly ran the races for over thirty years until they handed it over to NMROA in 2008. This year the Adobe Whitewater Club is working to expand the races and welcomes spectator, racer and sponsor enthusiasm and support!