Bogalusa Crew 313 closing in on 12th national championship

After two days of competition in the 120-mile, 45^th annual White River National Invitational Canoe Race, Bogalusa’s Venturer Crew 313 continues to hold down first place in three categories, but slipped a bit in a fourth division, where it now has teams in and is second, third and fifth.

 

Should the crew, coached by Col. Robert Miller, maintain those positions it would seem to have an insurmountable lock on a 12^th national championship in the prestigious race. The crew is sponsored by the Bogalusa newspaper.

In Open Cruising, the most advanced paddlers, Crew 313 leads Russellville, Ark. by two minutes, 29 seconds — a tightening of 3:10 off the day one margin. In Boys Aluminum-Advanced, Crew 313 leads Little Rock, Ark. by 46:07  — adding more than 20 minutes to their day one lead. In Boys Aluminum-Novice, Crew 313 leads Bryan, Texas by 1:05.16 — stretching their day one advantage by 39:47.

The slippage came in Boys Aluminum-Beginners.

Russellville, Ark. continues to lead, stretching its margin over second place Crew 313 to 14:21 and 20:34 over Crew 313’s third place boat. Crew 313’s canoe that was in fourth place after day one slipped to fifth after day two, 36:01 off the lead. That canoe was passed in the standings by Little Rock.

Russellville’s open cruising team, which gained 3:10 on Crew 313 on Friday, had the highest average speed for the day at 10.12 miles per hour. Crew 313 maintained the highest cumulative average speed at 9.92 miles per hour. Russellville’s 10.22 miles per hour on leg one was the fastest of the day, followed by New Brighton, Minn. with 10.18 miles per hour on that same leg.

Paddlers start 75 minutes earlier on Saturday’s final day, with the first oars hitting the water at 6:45 a.m. instead of day one and two’s 8 a.m. beginning.

Leg 6 — the longest of the race at 21 miles — gets paddlers under way as they navigate the river from Allyson/Sylamore to Lock No. 3 in a clock out run. A second clock out leg, 12 miles from Lock No. 3 to Lock No. 2, gets paddlers to within seven miles of the finish line, and that comes on Leg 8, from Lock No. 2 to Batesville.

Following completion of the race, officials will tally the results to determine the team champion as well as the winners of the numerous awards presented to entrants.

A total of 25 teams from six states were listed on the Day Two leaderboard, with two teams — one from Batesville, Ark. in Boys Aluminum-Advanced and one from Little Rock in Coed Aluminum-Beginners — had to be towed in an incurred 10 minute penalties.

The awards ceremony will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Pavilion near Norfork Dam.

(Published first at http://www.wpnewsblog.blogspot.com)