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Temple Terrace canoe race puts focus on river

Staff photo by SCOTT ISKOWITZ

Paddlers race down the Hillsborough River Saturday morning during the Mayor's Cup race and Canoe Challenge in Temple Terrace.

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 17, 2009

It was a beautiful morning for a canoe race.

As the early morning bluster gave way to blue skies, about a dozen canoes took to the Hillsborough River from Temple Terrace's Rotary Park.

Four boats, carrying two paddlers each, took off from the dock below Fowler Avenue with a flurry of flying paddles and splashing water.

They were headed for Riverhills Park nearly five miles away. The first one to reach the landing there won this year's Mayor's Cup.

An hour after they left, city resident Ken Tozier and his son, Jon, touched ground at the Riverhills boat landing to claim the trophy.

The turn out was smaller than city officials had expected. But the race had the air of a grudge match, pitting the Toziers against Police Chief Ken Albano and his son, Anthony.

Last year, Team Albano beat brothers Jon and Rob Tozier to claim the cup. It was the first time in the last five years a Tozier had not won the race – a finish Ken Tozier attributed to his sons' starting 10 minutes after everyone else had left.

That was not the problem this year.

Team Tozier took and early lead and held it for the entire race. Neither a head wind near the end nor a mat of water plants along the way held them back.

"The water was perfect," Ken Tozier said. "For the most part, you couldn't ask for better conditions."

The Toziers also beat a team that included Mayor Joe Affronti.

"They threw the best they had at us," Ken Tozier said.

For the majority of the morning's paddlers, the city-sponsored event was mostly just an excuse to spend a few hours on the water.

Tim DeLucca and Terry Lomanitz, both from Zephyrhills, brought their wives and daughters out for a laid-back trip along the river's black water.

"We're rookies and we're out for the fun of it," DeLucca said.

In the end, that was the point of the whole event, said Marshall Duncan, the city's recreation director.

The race used to be part of a larger city festival. But that event has been scaled back to focus on the river.

"We want to educate people that they've got this beautiful river right in their back yard," Duncan said.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 731-8168.

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