I was surprised, humbled and grateful to discover that my essay, Climate Change is Sabotaging the World’s Most Dangerous Canoe Race, was selected by Longreads for its Best of 2019: Sports Writing category. The editor who chose it, Matt Giles, wrote:
Since 1952, the Molokaʻi Hoe — otherwise known as the world’s most challenging canoe race — has annually enthralled 40,000 competitors off the coast of Oahu, but as Stinton explains in this deep-dive, the Molokaʻi Hoe is threatened not by modernity, analytics, and improved training but by climate change. It’s an angle I have long thought about, specifically how the planet’s warming will affect the Bonneville salt flats, and this piece succinctly explains how the overall warming of the waters through which the course flows could cause this race to forever be delayed — and with that, the impact on the culture and heritage of its competitors.
Every year I look forward to reading Longreads’ Best Of lists, and it’s crazy to see my work included on one.
Another 13 stories were chosen for the list. Check them out here.
