This year, rowers, pullers and paddlers will race each other along the Fairhaven and Chuckanut shorelines in what is becoming one of the most challenging and unpredictable races in the Northwest. 

With the race start and finish along Bellingham’s Taylor Avenue dock and Boulevard Park, spectators can watch the mass start of 100 rowers, native canoe pullers and surfski, fast sea kayak and outrigged canoe paddlers as they sprint toward Post Point buoy and then around Chuckanut Island and back.

About an hour (or so) later, they are in the finishing stretch (with Bellingham Bay, Lummi and Orcas Islands as backdrop) to a post-race all-you-can-eat BBQ.

After all contestants are back on their feet, door prizes and awards take place at Boulevard Park, with the rest of the Dirty Dan Days celebration awaiting at the Village Green.

Come join the Dirty Dan Days celebration on the waterfront by racing in the Dan Harris Challenge, or cheer your friends at the start and finish. Either way, it’s a wonderful way to celebrate the start of the spring racing season in Bellingham Bay...  bragging rights last all year.