Spring Races on Bayou Teche

Tour du Teche, Inc., will hold two one-day races for kayaks, canoes, pirogues, and SUPs this spring, one in April and one in May.
Saturday, April 18, is the 7.7 mile Top of the Teche from Leonville’s public boat ramp to Myran’s Maison de Manger in Arnaudville. The event benefits the work of the Arnaudville Chamber of Commerce and the Leonville Volunteer Fire Department. Entry is $40 per person. This will be the third annual running of that race.
Saturday, May 16, will be the first Chitimacha Race, 20 miles from New Iberia’s City Park to the public boat ramp in the Chitimacha Nation near Charenton. Entry is $50 per person.
The photo shows members of the Chitimacha Nation steady a paddler in Tour du Teche, the 135-mile ultra marathon down the entire length of Bayou Teche. Each year the tribe hosts a deluxe checkpoint on their reservation near Charenton, cooking hot dogs and padding the concrete ramp with discarded carpet from Cypress Bayou Casino.
Registration for the two spring races opens Monday, March 2, and closes day of the race. The schedule page at www.tourduteche.com has race times.
Registration fees include a performance shirt for each registered paddler and one registered coureur de bois per boat. Coureurs de bois, or bank runners, do not pay a fee.
For teams that do not have a coureur de bois, crew shuttles are available at no cost for teams that register at least two weeks in advance of the race and who notify TDT of their need for a shuttle at that time. Boats cannot be shuttled by TDT.
Tour du Teche VI, the 135-mile staged race from Port Barre to Berwick with one-day side races, will be Oct. 2-4.
For more information, visit www.tourduteche.com, e-mail ken@techetoday.com or call (337) 394-6232 and ask for Ken.