Always Up For A Challenge

Team Texarkana Buzzard Food’s Hampton Fontenot, David McGonagill and Sean Rommel join forces with Hospice of Texarkana for the 2021 Paddle-A-Thon

by JENNIFER JORDAN

photo by ALAMOND PHOTOGRAPHY

David and Sean competed in their first Texas River Marathon during May 2018.  This race determined each team’s start position for the Texas Water Safari.

At mile 60 on the Texas Water Safari 2019, Sean and David portage the lower water bridge at Palmetto State Park, between Luling and Gonzales.  Notice the water jugs with tubes coming out for drinking while they paddle.

Texas Water Safari. At a cursory glance, many people might think that this name sounds like an outdoor water park. Yet, it’s nothing of the sort. A 260-mile paddling race from San Marcos to Seadrift, on the Guadalupe and San Marcos Rivers, the Texas Water Safari is hailed as “the world’s toughest canoe race.” Held annually on the second Saturday of June, participants tackle numerous challenges from swift currents and whitewater rapids to logjams and alligators and other predators, all under any weather condition, be it a sweltering sun or a pop-up thunderstorm. Racers must finish the 260 miles within 100 hours and must also carry everything with them in their canoe, except for food and drink, which may be provided by a team member from the bank. 

Readers might ask, “Who would even dream of attempting this?”  Locals Sean Rommel, David McGonagill, and Hampton Fontenot certainly would. They are competing in their third race this June as “Team Texarkana Buzzard Food.” “Our goal is to finish,” comments David, who grew up in Victoria, Texas, a town through which the Texas Water Safari passes. As a distance athlete in high school, David was always interested in the race. He and Sean attended a daylong orientation about the Water Safari in February 2018 and began training for the June race. They manned a two-person canoe aptly numbered 3394 for Texarkana’s longitude and latitude coordinates. David and Sean also brought Hampton onboard as their co-captain to track the boat and provide the permitted food and drink along the course. “I chase them, feeding them from checkpoint to checkpoint,” Hampton explains.  “I have to sign them through every checkpoint.” He cannot touch anything in David and Sean’s canoe or offer physical assistance. They toss anything they don’t need out of their canoe along the way, and Hampton will then supply them with various food and drink, depending on their point in the race. There is also little communication between Hampton and his team members, except for the use of a SPOT tracker, which Sean or David can press to let Hampton know that they are okay. “The judges check everything,” Hampton explains. “I can’t communicate with them on the water, so it’s the world off my shoulders when they hit the ‘OK’ button.” 

Hampton Fontenot, Dawson McGonagill, Carson Rommel, Sean Rommel, David McGonagill, and Cordell McDonald during the Texas Water Safari team check-in in 2018 before Team Texarkana Buzzard Food’s first TWS race.

The first year, the team finished the race in 83 hours and 43 minutes. In 2019, the team’s goal was to break 60 hours. They almost made it, falling short of their goal by only 28 minutes. However, Team Texarkana Buzzard Food earned 4th place in the aluminum boat division and also came home with a goal to not only beat their time, but to do so for a local cause. This year, the team has joined forces with Hospice of Texarkana to run the first ever “Hospice of Texarkana Paddle-A-Thon.” “This is an avenue to help Hospice,” Hampton states. “Hospice of Texarkana gives people something special with its services. You have no idea how much a hospice program helps patients and their families mentally and physically. I’m proud of Sean and David for doing this for Hospice of Texarkana.” The team’s goal is to paddle over 500 miles from March 12 through June 16, the end of the Texas Water Safari. They welcome pledges, either as a single donation or per mile. All funds raised will go directly to Hospice of Texarkana. You can find ways to give on https://www.facebook.com/hospiceoftexarkana and https://www.facebook.com/TXKBuzzardFood/.  Team fans and sponsors can log on to the Texas Water Safari’s website during the race from June 12-16 and track by boat number (3394). 

David and Sean stand below the seawall in Seadrift, Texas, after completing their first Texas Water Safari in 83 hours during 2018.

Although Team Texarkana Buzzard Food desires to best its 60-hour race goal, the training is “the best part,” according to Sean. “We have the best times training together on different parts of the rivers. We eat at good restaurants, too. It’s a lot of fun.” The training has become a family affair, with their wives driving them around Southwest Arkansas and Central Texas to train. David’s son, Dawson, has helped him as co-captain, and Sean’s son, Carson, has also helped. Training begins January through May, with a few organized races offered to help teams prepare. “The big race kickoff is the Texas Winter 100k,” Sean explains. Team Texarkana Buzzard Food competed in this race in 2019 and 2020. David actually broke his wrist on their first Winter 100k, but that did not stop him from finishing that race or continuing to train. Teams can also participate in a 35-mile qualifier race on the fastest section of the Texas Water Safari in May. “About half of the teams competing do this race,” David states. Locally, the team trains on the Little River and the Cossatot River, which mimic the currents of the Guadalupe and San Marcos rivers, respectively. Weekends are reserved for longer hauls, but on weekdays, the team can race 4.5 miles on Bringle Lake. 

The Texas Winter 100k kicks off David and Sean’s training season.  This race runs from Austin to Bastrop on the Colorado River.  This photo was taken at the finish line of the race in January 2019.

The team is already anticipating at least one challenge in this year’s race. As of April, the water level on the rivers is low. Over the past three years, the team has learned that every little thing must be considered to finish a 260-mile race in their goal of fewer than 60 hours. They will use an 18-foot Kevlar canoe loaned by Wayne Thorp, which weighs less than their aluminum model. They also have ZRE black carbon fiber paddles that weigh only 10 ounces. “Paddling 50 times a minute for 60 hours yields 180,000 strokes,” David remarks. “The weight of the paddles is important. We’ve learned that we must get off the river as fast as possible.” Staying hydrated and fueled is critical, as the men burn 500 calories an hour. When they hit their checkpoints, Hampton will have 4 jugs of liquid, containing protein powder, Gatorade, tea, and water. He will trade out jugs for Sean and David and provide them whatever food they want. “At about the 200-mile point in Victoria, I want milkshakes and chicken nuggets,” David says.

If 2021 is anything like 2019, David and Sean will likely average about 2-3 hours of sleep over the entire 260-mile course. The lack of sleep, near-constant muscle usage, pestering insects and sweltering heat can prove to be powerful ingredients for a hallucination. “There are awesome cypress trees with knees along the Guadalupe River,” Sean comments. “You start hallucinating they are people.” In fact, the last 60 miles between Victoria and Sea Drift is called “Hallucination Alley.” “You see goofy stuff,” according to Sean. “You know it’s not real,” David chimes in, “but, by God, it’s real.” Sean relates, “At 2:30 a.m., a gar jumped into the boat, and we thought, ‘Was that real?’”  Real or not, gar and other water animals are not the only animals that race participants might expect. “On our second or third practice run, we were followed by buzzards,” David begins. “There was a dead cow in a log jam,” Sean continues. “We had to cross over it, or we thought we’d become buzzard food.” Hence, the ideal team name. 

For their third race, David, Sean, and Hampton’s plan is to finish and to raise money for Hospice of Texarkana. An ultimate goal is to earn a place in the Texas Water Safari Hall of Fame. They will need to accomplish 10 Water Safaris to do this, and they would like to do so by age 60. “We’ll need to be 8 for 8 for the next races,” David states. The cancellation of the 2020 race actually served as a boon to David. He suffered a stroke in February of 2020 and figured that he was finished racing, but credits “the COVID-19 year with giving me recoup time.” 

Winning the race offers no pecuniary rewards, just bragging rights. “There’s an award ceremony, and you get a nice patch for participating—that’s it,” Sean explains. Texas Water Safari teams can consist of several people, or just one. “There are extreme competitors who are out of our class. They take only 90 second breaks per hour. We’re not there yet,” Sean quips. He elaborates, “But I can’t say enough about the river community. They want everyone to finish.” For these three friends, the real reward is in the time spent together. As David says, “We don’t argue. It’s a lot of fun. It takes a special person to ride with another in a boat for 260 miles, sleep-deprived.” 

This photo was taken at mile 248 checkpoint 10 from the bridge over the salt water barrier on the Guadalupe River, which keeps salt water from the San Antonio Bay from creeping upstream.  This was the last time Sean and David would see their team before the finish in 2019.  They discarded everything they didn’t need before undertaking the final 16 miles, 6 miles of which are across open water on the San Antonio Bay.