College buddies complete Red River ultramarathon

Danny Frazier of Dallas and Chip Little of Winnfield, La., paddling tandem in a classic aluminum canoe, are the first and only team to finish the “beastly” Tour de la Rivière Rouge, 275 miles from Shreveport-Bossier City to Port Barre.
Their time was 101 hours, 58 minutes and 44 minutes.
The two old college buddies, team-named “Paddlewackers,” had plenty of company at the start on Sept. 26, but with the exception of one solo paddler who dropped out with physical problems early-on, the others were entered in the double-ultramarathon 419 de Louisiane, finishing in Berwick on Oct. 4.
By all accounts, the Red River race was the toughest of the two, consisting of mostly flat water piled up behind a series of five lock-and-dam installations, the Red River Waterway Project completed in 1994. Then the river, joined by the Black (Ouachita) River, picks up speed and sluices through Louisiana’s heart of darkness, a vast wilderness bound by the Lake Ophelia National Wildlife Refuge and the Red River, Grassy Land the Three Rivers state wildlife management areas. For nearly 50 miles, there are no lights to be seen.
The river becomes the deep and swift Atchafalaya. Rivière Rouge and 410 racers exit at Krotz Springs on U.S. 190 and motor-portage to Bayou Courtableau for the sprint to the finish in Port Barre.
Some of the 410 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.”
The other leg of 410 de Louisiane is Tour du Teche 135, a 135-mile, three-day staged race down Bayou Teche, completing the course from the top of the state to the bottom.