Ten-mile race kicks off annual Tour du Teche

Published 6:00 am Sunday, May 16, 2021

The first race of this year’s Tour du Teche paddling series is in the books after Saturday’s Tour du Teche Chitimacha run.

The 10-mile race started at the Viator Park canoe dock in Jeanerette with a short prayer before the race kicked off. Participants then followed the course to the dock at the Chitimacha Tribal Reservation in Charenton.

Although the weather was perfect, the recent rains had raised the level of the Bayou Teche, making it a little more aggressive than its usual languid pace.

The Tour du Teche is on for Oct. 1 through Oct. 1-3 after being cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Petit Tour du Teche, with several short raes, will be held July 17 in Breaux Bridge for paddlers from 5 to 17 years of age.

The TECHE Project, which spawned the Tour du Teche, conducts periodic clean-ups of the Bayou Teche. The various races have brought attention to the Teche Area and have created an interest in preserving and using the waterway responsibly. The city of St. Martinville, for example, has created a bayou-side park as a venue for festivals as well as a finish/start for the Tour. The town of Leonville built a launch ramp that has become a focal point of the town. And the city of Berwick, where the race concludes, has turned the Tour du Teche finish into an annual festival.

For more information, go online to tourduteche.com.

10 mile race, May 15, 2021

Solo, double blade, male

Elmore Holmes, 1:15:14

Brad Rex, 1:22:48

Christian Massow, 1:26:04

Elmer Landry, 1:32:55

Matthew Bondura, 1:35:16

Solo, double blade, female

Kimberly Schulte, 1:27:40

Denise D’Abundo, 1:46:02

Solo, single blade

Joey Strum, 1:50:58

Solo, double blade, female voyager

Jill Shorey hvv 2:02:22

Cynthia Boyer, 2:39:14

Natalie Leroux, dnf

Tandem, double blade, mixed

Toni Darden/Nathanial LeBlanc, 2:02:08