The Texas Water Safari is a 260-mile canoe race from San Marcos to the Gulf of Mexico. This year’s event was set to kick off Saturday. However, participants were met with disappointment when the race was postponed due to heavy flooding in the New Braunfels area.

Derek Lonergan and Tyler Labelle are from Canada. They have been training for months to compete in the safari.

"I just did a lot of rowing, just indoor rowing and hockey here and there. It's all you really can do in minus 40," Labelle said.

Lonergan and Labelle are part of Team Chinook. They arrived in San Marcos Wednesday, ready to take on the race.

"The sheer size of this race is going to be the biggest challenge I probably would do in my whole life," Labelle said.

Paddlers face heat, bugs, snakes and other surprises as they paddle down the San Marcos River in hopes of making it to the finish line on the coast in Seadrift.

"It's the ultimate test of endurance and perseverance,” Lonergan said. “This race teaches you things will go wrong. It is how you handle it that will be a measure of what kind of person you are."

The news of the flooding frustrated the Canadian paddlers.

"Quite angry actually. That's one of the main things, because there was just so much time put into it. Weekends upon weekends of training," Labelle said.

The two were racing to raise money for the Canadian Cancer Society. They aren’t sure if they'll be able to make it back for the new start date.

"You realize that we're not the ones being affected by this," Lonergan said. "And then it sort of sets in that it was something that was completely out of their control, and they [race officials] were looking out for the safety of everybody," Lonergan said.

However, both Lonergan and Labelle are trying to make the best of their visit to the Lone Star State.

"We're in Texas now so we're going to enjoy what we can," Lonergan said.

The Texas Water Safari will now begin on July 10. This is the third time in the race's 48 year history that weather has postponed the event.