Tournoi riders prepare, Evangeline Bank donates to 21 Club

The traditional Tournoi will be held Sunday, October 13, at 3 p.m.
Twenty riders will meet on the field to do battle - a battle which represents the seven enemies of cotton – boll weevil, boll worm, nylon, rayon, silk, flood and drought.
The Top 10 riders from the 2012 competition will compete this year. They are Champion Eric Guillory, Chuck Manuel, William Fontenot, Kent Saucier, Paul Fontenot, Alex Haller, Bryan Fontenot, Marcus Guillory, Cody Lafleur and Keith Saucier.
Ten more challengers for the coveted Tournoi trophy were selected during qualifications. They are Shane Trahan, Shane Lee, Ryan Haller, Cody Manuel, Todd Manuel, Marty Fruge, Nick Ortego, Jody Trahan, Ched Fontenot and Rusty Lafleur.
The 20 riders will try to spear seven rings, which represent the enemies of cotton, to be declared the winner of the competition. Riders must capture these rings with a lance, similar to the knights of the medieval times, as quickly as possible.
Each rider begins the event with a 210-point handicap. After a rider completes three runs on the course, his score is calculated. First, the number of rings he was able to lance are subtracted from the 210-point handicap, with each ring worth 10 points. An average time from the rider’s three runs are calculated, and that number is added to the ring score. The rider with the lowest score is the winner.
Evangeline Bank recently made its annual donation for Mr. Perfect. These funds will be awarded to any rider who manages the feat of capturing all 21 rings during his three rounds in the Tournoi.
History
The Tournoi was first introduced to Ville Platte in the early 1800’s by Major Marcellin Garand from France, an officer in Napoleon’s army, who founded and served as the first mayor of Ville Platte. The Tournoi was organized as a sport by Garand. It was judged on speed and skill, the same as today. These Tournoi tournaments were held for about 90 years, then gradually faded away as other sports such as baseball and country lane horse races became more popular in Ville Platte.
When planning the Fourth of July celebration in 1948, two men, Judge J.D. Buller and Jules Tate, suggested the tournament be brought back to life. There were still two people who had ran in the last Tournoi in the late 1880s and knew how to run it. They helped a group of young citizens and a group of patriotic WWII veterans organize the ancient sport again, and it was a success. For the first few years, Le Tournoi was run as part of the Fourth of July festivities. When the Louisiana Cotton Festival came into existence in 1954, it was dropped as a Fourth of July event and began to run in conjunction with the Louisiana Cotton Festival.
Learn more about this unique event at www.louisianatournoi.com.