After countless hours of practice and several local canoe races, explorer and venturer scouts, along with scouts from other areas of the council, will participate in the 47th annual Explorer/Venturer Bogue Chitto Marathon Canoe Race, which kicks off tomorrow in McComb, Miss.
The local Bogue Tuchenna District, encompassing Washington Parish and St. Tammany Parish, hosts the annual event, sponsored by the Istrouma Area Council of Boy Scouts of America. The race ends Saturday at Bush.
  
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Competition in the race includes: boys and girls aluminum division, coed division, open cruising division, and for first-time canoers, the novice division. On Saturday, a special division of former paddlers – the “old-timers” — will join the action on the last leg of the race.
The annual three-day, six-leg event covers a 110-mile stretch of the Bogue Chitto River, from the Miss. Hwy. 98 bridge, south of McComb, Miss., to Lock No. 2 of the Pearl River Navigational Canal, south of Bush.
The first leg runs from the Hwy. 98 bridge to Walker Bridge Water Park at Tylertown, Miss. Following a quick change of paddlers, the race continues on the second leg, ending at the Warnerton Bridge, arrival time approximately noon.
Following a lunch break, the third leg begins, ending at the Franklinton VFW Post 7196 at approximately 4 p.m. Concluding the first day of competition will be an evening meal provided by the Latimore VFW post 7196.
Starting at 8 a.m. on Friday, the canoers begin the second day of competition, leaving Franklinton and paddling to Enon on the fourth leg of the race. They should arrive about 10:45 a.m. at Wayne’s World Canoe and Tubing Center.
After a lunch break, they’ll continue on the fifth leg, concluding at about 3:45 p.m. at the 5-Lakes Campgrounds, located three miles west of the Fifth Ward School on Hwy. 40, west of Bush. The scouts will be treated to a dinner hosted by the Washington Parish Sheriff.
Saturday’s final leg of the marathon race begins at 9 a.m., when the canoers head for Lock No. 2 at Bush. The canoers, with the alumni paddlers competing, will arrive there about 10:45 a.m. Team and individual trophies will be presented at 11:30 a.m.
During the race, the Washington Parish Sheriff and Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries will provide safety patrol boats, as the paddlers traverse the somewhat treacherous Bogue Chitto River.
Very low water, along with extreme heat, has made race practice somewhat difficult for the canoers. However, spirits are high, as most of the local participants are looking forward to next week’s National Explorer/ Venturer 120-mile White River Canoe Marathon Race, which begins in the Ozark Mountains of northern Arkansas on July 24.
Bogalusa Venturer Crews 313 and 785 and Varnado/ Bush Crew 200 of the local Bogue Tuchenna District will be defending their titles, won during last year’s competition in both the Bogue Chitto and White River races.
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