Seven boats finish the grueling Rivière Rouge

A rail-thin and ultralight 42-foot canoe with five paddlers dominated the first running of the 275-mile Tour de la Rivière Rouge, a race made-to-order for such craft.
In first place were Phil Bowden and Chris Champion of San Marcos, Texas, Heather Harrison of New Braunfels, Texas, Bobby Smart of Anacoco, La., and Wendell Smith of Seguin, Texas. They paddled from Shreveport-Bossier City down the Red River to the Atchafalaya, motor-portaging six miles on U.S. 190 from Krotz Springs to Bayou Courtableau for a final sprint to Port Barre at the head of Bayou Teche – all in an adjusted time of 49 hours, 43 minutes and 58 seconds.
David Dupree of Rayville, leading the remaining pack of solo and tandem boats, finished in 97 hours, 42 minutes and 6 seconds, adjusted.
Each finisher had 20 minutes subtracted from his time to compensate for an unexpected motor-portage around demolition of the old O.K. Allen Bridge in Alexandria.
The bridge was literally blown up and collapsed into the river on Saturday, Sept. 26, the day the race started.
On Friday, Oct. 2, the Texas longboat team and most of the other Rivière Rouge racers are set to shove off from Port Barre in a three-day, 135-mile staged marathon to Berwick, the Tour du Teche. The combination of the Red River race and Tour du Teche constitutes the new 410 de Louisiane, a race from north to south Louisiana, 410 miles.
The other Rivière Rouge finishers were:
•Danny Frazier of Dallas and Chip Little of Winnfield, 101 hours, 58, minutes and 44 seconds.
•Cory Werk of Breaux Bridge, 102 hours, 38 minutes and 36 seconds.
•Jeffrey Duzan of Breaux Bridge, 110 hours, 3 minutes and 46 seconds.
•Max Dugas of Lafayette and Adam Jones of Austin, Texas, 110 hours, 45 minutes and 7 seconds.
•Jack Cover of Lafayette, 110 hours, 45 minutes and 8 seconds.
Three experienced long-distance paddlers, Laurence Cohen of New Orleans, Denise D’Abundo of Baton Rouge, and Brad Rex of Lafayette, dropped out of the race, each paddling solo against a headwind and with no current to aid them until well below the final lock and dam on the Red River.
The Texas paddlers, veterans of such daunting marathons as the Missouri 340 (miles) and the fabled Texas Water Safari, pronounced the Tour de la Rivière Rouge “the Beast.” Unlike the Tour du Teche, an ancient watery highway through the villages and farms of Acadiana, the Rivière Rouge courses through Louisiana’s heart of darkness. Before it merges with the Atchafalaya River, the Red winds through a wilderness established by several wildlife management areas. For nearly 50 miles, there are no lights to be seen. It was here that the Texas longboat crew witnessed the eclipse of the moon and, as Wendell Smith describes it, a view of the Milky Way brighter than can be seen at Big Bend National Park.
They might have also spotted a rougarou (the Cajun werewolf, loup garou). Smith’s hastily grabbed smart phone photo is inconclusive.
For more information, visit www.tourduteche.com.