In fact, it was waves that made life much more difficult for boaters. At some point during the day, seven boats capsized during the leg and had to be rescued by the Classic safety team. Fortunately, these falls into the water had no unfortunate consequences.
It was therefore no surprise that the first C2 teams arrived a little later than expected in the late afternoon, having departed La Tuque at 10am. The top trio stuck together until the end. After a lot of effort, Christophe Proulx and Ryan Halstedt took 1st place with a time of 06:34:25. They beat the duo of Mike Davis and Guillaume Blais by just three seconds and that of Christophe Pellerin and Christophe Lajoie by 15 seconds. The fight should therefore be very interesting for the McCormick Cup.
The crew of veterans Steve Lajoie and Wesley Dean finished their day three minutes and 30 seconds later in 4th place, just ahead of Mike Vincent and Ryan Stepka.
The last C2 boats arrived around 6:30 p.m., meaning these canoeists were on the water for more than 8:30 hours to cover the distance between La Tuque and Saint-Roch-de-Mékinac.
The Spartans are in the lead in R9
In the R9, it was the Spartans – Houle Asphalte who were able to take control at the end of that first day. They had to keep the pace until the end to cross the finish line with a time of 06:35:00 ahead of Hockey Lemay. The two teams were separated by just four seconds, despite the rodeo caused by the waves.
Behind the top duo, it was the members of As du Piano who completed the top 3 of the day among the R9. A few minutes later the Maco group arrived.
As if the waves weren’t enough, the boats also had to contend with recreational boats, making the sports teams’ jobs even more difficult. The Sûreté du Québec police officers present on the water had to bring the situation under control. Organizers would like to remind boaters on the Saint-Maurice River to exercise caution and respect when seeing Canoe Classic crews in action on the Saint-Maurice River.
The second day takes place between Saint-Roch-de-Mékinac and Shawinigan, arriving in the city center. This second stage of the canoe classic will be primarily characterized by the decisive Grand Mère portage. The R9 is expected to arrive around 1:15 p.m. and the C2 at 2:45 p.m.
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