Running wild

Jenni Peters went on vacation—with 30 of her closest friends.

The owner of Varsity Sports and a tireless civic activist, Peters has long been at the heart of South Louisiana’s running scene. Among its members are Claire and Jason Cashio, who several years ago offered the use of their home near the Nantahala Outdoor Center in North Carolina. More than a dozen people duly arrived for what became known as Varsity Summer Camp.

This year the party had swelled to about 30: many runners, some relatives, and almost all daredevils. They navigated white-water rapids, leaped from rocks into Fontana Lake and clung to inflatable tubes being hauled at alarming speed behind a boat piloted by Cashio—an attorney when he is back in Baton Rouge.

“I got pulled behind one of the inner tubes, and I have whiplash,” Peters said. “Jason was determined to throw me off.”