The work has been put in and the 57th annual Bogue Chitto River Canoe Marathon Race is right around the corner.
So far, two venturer crews will be there in Bogalusa Crew 313 and Bush Venturer Crew 213. Col. Bobby Miller is the 313 advisor and Stephanie Seal is 213’s advisor.
The event is a three-day, 110-mile marathon race.
It begins on Thursday, July 19 at the Highway 98 Bridge in McComb, Miss. From there, the canoers will go to the Highway 98 Walker Bridge Waterpark in Tylertown, Miss. where there will be a quick change. The race continues to the Warnerton Bridge in Mississippi and then to the Veterans of Foreign Wars Home in Franklinton where they will be fed.
The VFW is the final stop for Thursday.
Paddlers continue the race on Friday morning at 8 a.m. and proceed to Enon where there will be a lunch break.
From Enon, they head to Five Lakes and that caps off Friday’s competition.
Washington Parish Sherriff Randy Seal will feed the paddlers on Friday.
The canoers head for their final day of the race on Saturday at 9 a.m.
They will race to Lock No. 3 in Sun.
Following the race, the paddlers will depart for Arkansas where they will compete in the 52nd annual Explorer/Venturer 120-mile Canoe Marathon White River Race.
The race in Arkansas runs from Thursday, July 26 through Saturday, July 28.
“We’ve a number of rainouts in preparation for this, but we feel like we’re ready to defend our titles here and in Arkansas,” Miller said.
Seal said the paddlers have worked hard all summer to get ready for this race.
They paddle five days a week between 18 and 25 miles a day to prepare for it,” Seal said.
Seal said the kids are excited.
They usually get to race against a good number of teams,” Seal said. “We have been first place for years and the kids are looking forward to bringing home another first-place title. The kids are ready and they enjoy it.”