With a towering city skyline on one side and mammoth cliffs of a quarry on the other, the Arkansas River provides quite a diverse middle ground for those willing to travel its muddy and sometimes dangerously powerful waters.

Especially for those in the Arkansas Canoe Club, which held its first-ever race down the river last Saturday, and whose members are used to much narrower streams and tributaries that sit mostly in more secluded and underdeveloped parts of the Natural State.

So Saturday’s race down a four-mile stretch of one of the nation’s widest and longest rivers posed a different kind of threat and stewed a new kind of buzz amongst the canoers and kayakers that make up the 600-member recreational club.

"Most of the people in the club are whitewater canoers and kayakers," said Rob Lambert, a North Little Rock member who organized the race. "This was something a little bit different from what they are used to... I wouldn’t say it was more dangerous than paddling through whitewater runs at all, but you’re dealing with a pretty tough undertow and a strong current in an environment like the Arkansas River... as long as you can keep out of the water there’s nothing to worry about."

But just in case a canoer or kayaker happened to find danger, the club took a big preventative step by contracting the Arkansas Explorer Search and Rescue — or ESAR — team to patrol the river in a motorized life raft and a personal watercraft during the event.

"There was only one guy who tumped over in his kayak, but he was already back up and rowing in no time and didn’t need any help," said Ryan Shell, a founding member of the ESAR team. "There’s always the danger of being pulled under on a body of water like the Arkansas River... We were there just to make sure that didn’t happen."

The course’s starting point was the safe and docile waters of the river inlet at the Burns Park boat launch, where canoers and kayakers registered before putting their floating device of choice into the chocolate-milky water.

The racers then grouped together for the starting gun before setting their sights four miles downstream, past the Big Rock Quarry to the north and Murry Park Golf Course and the Little Rock big-business skyline to the south, where the race would conclude at the foot of the I-30 bridge on the north bank of the river.

Lambert said he was inspired to organize the Arkansas River race by a similar event that an outdoors store in Memphis puts together every year on the Mississippi River that coincides with the Memphis in May Festival.

"We have a lot of talented paddlers from here that travel to Memphis every year to participate in that race," said the cardiologist who lives in Lakewood and trains on Lake No. 1. "With the Arkansas River running right through the middle of our state along with all of the interest we have in the sport, I thought it was funny and a real loss that we didn’t have anything like that."

Although the Arkansas Canoe Club does sponsor a few events during the year, this was the first race that was sanctioned by the club "in many years," Lambert said.

Aside from many weekend outings the club organizes, the two main events each year are a whitewater school that teaches safety practices to paddlers in the fall, and a rendezvous for all of the members at Lake Catherine in the spring.

"It’s nice to have some races to see how much you’ve improved and to find out how you stack up against other paddlers," said Lambert. "But mostly the club is a good way for everyone who has this in common to keep in touch and find ways to get out and enjoy the sport."

But last Saturday’s race was such a success with more than 30 entries, Lambert said he’d like to keep building it up to eventually rival the event on the Mississippi.

"My hope is that if we can encourage the elite racers and get more of a cross section of folks paddling on the river with some consistency, that the race could grow into a big event," said Lambert. "We could even make it a longer race... But the four miles was a good length for the inaugural race and didn’t scare anyone off."

Three Memphis kayakers swept the men’s division by placing in the top three spots Saturday, with Elmore Holmes among them turning in the best solo time of the race at 31 minutes, 24 seconds.

A duo kayaking team — also from Memphis — won the tandem division and finished three seconds better than Holmes with a time of 31:21.

Sherwood’s Bill Steward won the solo canoe division with a time of 43:02.

"It’s a fun way just to get out and get some exercise," Steward said. "It’s not about the racing as much as it is about doing something outside and having a good time."