By Brad Cameron
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Life was not going as planned for former Keokuk resident T.J. Holman. His mom Linda passed away in December 2015 and other problems followed into the first half of 2016. Depression set in, which led to a weight gain. Hovering around 400 pounds, Holman made a phone call that turned everything around.
Shane Perrin, owner of SUP St. Louis, offered Holman a chance to become healthier and more fit by building him a stand up paddle board. Over the course of a year, Holman has dropped nearly 100 pounds participating in an activity he has become passionate about.
That passion has led Holman to join Perrin and three others to paddle on a board in the Missouri American Water MR340, a 340-mile endurance race on the Missouri River that starts in Kansas City Aug. 8 and ends in St. Charles, Mo.
“Shane is responsible for me losing the weight since last June by getting me into paddle boarding,” Holman said. “It has essentially changed my life. Since my mom died from a brain aneurysm, I kind of realized how short life was. This has geared me to lose the weight.
“It all started with him helping me do this, and the next thing you know, it’s an obsession. He put me on a paddle board and it was like an instant on-switch — it’s the only thing I want to do.”
Needing something good to happen
After Holman’s mom died, other things started to spiral in his life. Holman and his wife worked for his mom, so both were out of jobs. That was followed by his father suffering a heart attack and problems with the house they were living in. Everything was piling up on him.
Needing an outlet, Holman reached out to Perrin in May 2015.
“I called him just to talk to somebody different,” Holman said. “I was bumming about my mom and not eating right. He said, ‘What if I built you a paddle board? What if I got you on a paddle board? Would you want to do this?’ I told him, ‘Sure, but I don’t have the money to pay for a board.’ He told me, ‘No, I’m going to build you a board. This board is going to be yours from me to you. All I want in payment is for you to get healthier.’ I literally started crying on the phone when he said that to me. I was speechless. I was honored he wanted to do that for me.”
It took Perrin five months to finish the board.
“Between him running his business, two kids, substitute teaching — all that — it was a little slow going,” Holman said.
Holman, however, didn’t wait for the board. He started eating better, exercising more, paddling his kayak more, and prepared for his paddle board by trying to stand in his kayak.
“Within two months, I had already lost 20 pounds just because of the motivation he gave me,” Holman said.
New job
Holman was needing a part for his kayak, so he took a trip to Ozark Mountain Trading Company. While he was there, he decided to apply for a job. They offered him a part-time job for the summer, but his love for the company he worked for led to something more.
“When I love what I do, I drill it into people’s heads until they are annoyed,” Holman said. “I was still part time during last year’s 340, but I took a banner with me to all the stops and posted pictures on Facebook and Instagram. The owners saw the love I had for the company, and they promoted me to a field and outside sales manager. I went from a part-time job to a career in the span of a few months. “
It also was during last year’s 340 that Perrin approached Holman with the idea of paddling in this year’s event.
“I was on the ground crew last year,” Holman said. “Watching these paddlers go through this torture, I was like, ‘There is no way in hell I could do this.’ In the middle of the race, when they pulled into Jefferson City, Shane basically didn’t ask me to be on the board, he told me I was going to be. I was floored. I was honored that this world-renowned paddle boarder would ask this fat, bearded guy to be in a race with him. That alone drove me even harder than just trying to do this for my mom. It lit a fire in me.”
As a favor to Holman, Perrin competed in a 24-hour paddle event in a Hobie kayak from the Ozark Mountain Trading Company in October. He also surprised Holman by giving him the paddle board he had made for him.
“I didn’t even know he was bringing it,” Holman said. “We did the last mile of this 24-hour thing he was doing for me only board with him on the Hobie. From then on, there hasn’t been a week go by that I have not been on a paddle board.
“He built this paddle board especially for me. He custom built it for me. It’s not a show board by any means. It’s functional, not form. Since October, I’ve been on it at least three times a week. It’s been balls to the wall since then, to the point where it doesn’t look like it used to due to the fiberglass patches, clear Gorilla tape and white resin because I take it everywhere. He told me to beat the hell out of the board because it’s meant to be on the water.”
Holman and Perrin did one other thing to give the board meaning.
“We named the board ‘Makuahine,’ which means mother in Hawaiian,” Holman said. “We named it that because paddle boarding started in Hawaii, and we thought it would be kind of fitting.”
MR340 Paddle Race
The Missouri 340 is an endurance race across the state of Missouri. Participants are allowed exactly 88 hours to complete the course. There are nine checkpoints along the route where paddlers are required to sign in and out. Cutoff times are associated with these checkpoints based on the 88-hour pace.
The biggest hazard to paddlers are motorboats and the occasional towboat pushing barges. River obstacles include wing dikes, buoys and bridge pilings.
Only 2/3 of the teams completed the event last year.
“This year, there are 450 canoes and kayaks, and I think there is 22 or 23 paddle boards,” Holman said. “Anybody who knows this race basically calls anybody who does this on a paddle board suicidal because it’s the Missouri River. To me, it’s just a tributary, being born and raised at the (Keokuk) Yacht Club.”
Perrin was the first person to do this race on a stand-up paddle board in 2011. Last year, he did it with a four-person crew, including one who was 81 years old at the time, on a board he built that was 16 feet long.
The plan for this year was to do the event on an eight-person board. Instead, five people will do the 340 miles on a board that is 18 feet long and 4 1/2 feet wide.
“It’s the first of its kind in the world in the longest paddle race in the world, so why not go big or go home,” Holman said.
Joining Holman and Perrin on the board are Bailey Donahue, Madison Davis and Daren Wolf.
“We’re putting the three lightest on one side of the board, and Daren and I will be on the other side,” Holman said. “We will have all of our water and gear on my side of the board to balance things out.
“It’s going to be easier with five on the board instead of eight as far as paddling. With five people, it will be a more efficient stroke because there will always be a paddle in the water. With eight people, you’re talking about four people on each side dipping their paddle in the water, which actually reduces a little bit of efficiency. We’re thinking the board will be faster.”
The group also is required to have a ground crew that will provide food and water and sets up camp at the checkpoints.
The five-person crew is hoping to finish the race in 70 to 75 hours despite temperatures hovering around triple digits during the week.
“With the board, it’s not a matter of strength, but endurance,” Holman said. “The key is endurance from standing and staying hydrated.”
Future plans
Holman and Perrin share a common goal — promoting paddle boarding as much as they can.
Both have talked about paddling from Keokuk to St. Louis next year.
“We want to do a cheesy blog/documentary-type thing from, starting where I was born and ending where I was essentially reborn when I started paddle boarding with him. It’s about a 160-mile trip. We want to take about a week and stop in towns in between.”
The dream is to be on the road teaching stand-up paddle boarding classes across the country. Both also have a goal of bringing this sport to military veterans with post-traumatic stress disorders and amputations.
Holman also wants to keep losing weight.
“I’m still not where I want to be,” he said. “I’m doing pretty good, but I’m hoping to be around 250 pounds within the next six months.”
