The 2nd annual Paducah Marine Challenge will be held June 6, 2008.  Check out our calendar for further information.

LL&W’s first Marine Challenge was held on May 11, 2007, in Paducah, KY, bringing teams of volunteers from the marine industry together to clean the banks of the Ohio River.

Following are excerpts from coverage of the event by Reuters in Paducah:

The day’s catch from one of America’s greatest rivers is massive: dozens of tires, coils of barge rope, thousands of plastic bottles, an old green couch – and a single naked leg. The cleanup volunteers spotted the severed limb of a small mannequin almost as soon as they landed on the bank of the Ohio River. The white plastic flesh was stained with mud from hip to toes, like most of the garbage that would soon fill the Living Lands & Waters’ barge to near overflowing. The volunteers who came out to clean the Ohio River as part of a competition between local barge companies had no problem finding trash. “It’s disgusting. I didn’t think we’d find so many tires,” said Susan Hall, who usually spends her days behind a desk at Ingram Barge Co. in Nashville. Nearby, four co-workers strained to pull a couch out of the mud, while another shoveled dirt from a barrel so it could be lifted into a boat.

Many thanks to Ingram Barge Co. for their hard work coordinating the event, and to sponsors Marquette; Memco; Marine Systems; Paducah-McCracken County Riverport; Western Kentucky Navigation; Gault, Marshall, & Miller; Hunter Marine; James Marine; B&H Towing; and Crounse Corporation, as well as the US Coast Guard and numerous businesses and individuals who volunteered their time, or provided goods and services to make it all come together.

The trophy in 2007 went to Ingram Barge Co. for bringing the largest number of volunteers. It was a day of hard work, fun, great food, and camaraderie.