Ep. #4: Mirko Prüfer - Veteran Ultramarathon Paddler

Today, Chris Thomas sits down with veteran paddler, Mirko Prüfer, out of Germany who got his paddle racing start on a dragonboat racing team. In this episode you’ll hear about how Mirko dove head first into the ultramarathon paddling world after a vacation trip to the Yukon where he was inspired by Yukon River Quest racers. Talk about being in the right place at the right time as this chance encounter inspired his ultramarathon racing career both in boat and on foot. I loved this conversation mostly because it gave me a chance to meet a fellow paddler that I’ve admired from afar but also because of Mirko’s many heartwarming stories of the paddling community. We talk about stories of generosity in a fellow paddler that drove two days to crew for him in the AL650 only for him to return the favor the following year and crew for her. The resounding theme of this podcast is that the paddling community comes through for fellow paddlers in need. There’s so much more to this chat with him, including his stories about paddling more than 1700 total miles in 4 separate races in 2024, but I’ll let you hear it from Mirko Prüfer himself in this 4th episode of the Dabbling In Paddleism Podcast… Mirko's book recommendation: Upside Down in the Yukon River, by Steve Cannon Mirko would also like to send a shoutout to a couple folks that in his words "helped me so much this year!" -John McCoy's Some Beach Outfitters out of Missouri: www.somebeachoutfitters.com -Lite Venture Pure Paddling, an outfitter out of Germany: www.liteventure.de