Jackson natives compete in 260-mile canoe race

Zach Walter and Chandler Doughten, 20 and both from Jackson, completed the annual 260-mile competition known as the Texas Water Safari on Wednesday, with a total time of 84 hours and 45 minutes.

The race started at 9 a.m. June 9 � stretching from the San Marcos River to the bay at Seadrift, Texas � with 140 teams participating.

First timer Walter said he became involved when Doughten mentioned it and provided information about the race in February.

�Chandler contacted me and said, �You�re the only guy I know that would be any good at this.� I told him I�d be down,� Walter said.

Walter said Doughten did all the logistical work and figured everything out. Walter said he did what he could from California, where he was at the time, �then we just flew down and got it going.�

Doughten said he didn�t really think the length of the race was intimidating at first, but then realized it was more than twice the distance to St. Louis from Cape Girardeau.

�But, I was just like, �I�m already committed, I�m already here, I�m gonna finish it no matter what,�� he said.

The weather was one of the more challenging aspects of the race, Doughten said, due to it being a very rainy season.

�The river was low and there was a breeze coming up from the south that was working against us,� he said. �There were logjams everywhere. The river hadn�t had time to change with the amount of water running through it.�

Aside from it being �just hot and sunny,� Doughten said it rained on them two or three times during the competition but said, �The heat was the main thing.�

Participants had to provide their own equipment, Doughten said, including the canoes.

�You entered the race, you paid the entry fee and you brought every gear you needed,� he said.

Doughten and Walter participated as a two-man team, �The Missouri Boys,� and entered the race under the classification of novice, Doughten said, and competed with a plain, aluminum canoe that was �maybe 8- to 10-foot long.�

Doughten said, �Nothing special. It was the basic one for the basic group.�

If allowed more time to train and to prepare himself, Doughten said he �would go though it again for sure.�

�Chandler had his training, as far as canoeing, with going down the Mississippi, but I was in California working for the Marine Corps,� he said. �I didn�t really have any way to train. If we had a couple more guys to share the experience with, I would definitely for sure do it again.�

Doughten and Walter finished the race in 10th place, according to Doughten�s mother, Michelle, who was one of the team captains at the event.

Overall, it was a record year for the novices, Michelle Doughten said, with 31 entries.

�Out of the 31 entries, 12 of them, I believe, dropped out and didn�t make it to the end. So they really did well,� she said.

jhartwig@semissourian.com

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