Elmore Holmes returned to defend his crown at the 8th annual Bluz Cruz Marathon, and kept rollin’ on down the river.

Holmes, a 35-year-old from Memphis, clocked a time of 1 hour, 56 minutes and 34 seconds to win the 22-mile boat race down the Mississippi River on Saturday. It was his second consecutive title in the fast boat division, the most competitive group in the race.

In the touring boat division, William Rietzer-Smith of Addison, Texas finished first with a time of 2 hours, 10 minutes and 7 seconds. Clayton Plunkett won the wooden kayak class in 2:29:19, while Port Gibson resident Sam McLemore teamed with Jay Cumbee to win the tandem canoe class in 2:29:07.

A total of 73 people participated in the race, which began at the Madison Parish, La., Port and ended at City Front. The race included stretches along both the Mississippi River and Yazoo Diversion Canal.