For those of us who've never participated in an event that combines whitewater kayaking with pumpkin-nabbing, could someone explain the basic format of the upcoming event?

The gist is there is a race to collect pumpkins for prizes and to raise money for TRR.  The faster you race, the better selection of pumpkins you have.  Each boater is only allowed a single pumpkin, but you can swap out on the way down.  There will probably be pumpkins on the side of the river given levels!!  Or maybe some good mid stream, knock it off the rock with your paddle ones. 

There will be two groups of paddlers.  The experienced group starts at confluence, and the intermediate paddlers start at split rock TO, and are released at the sight of the first paddler.  Pumpkins will populate both the upper and lower.