GRAYLING, MICHIGAN
FOR
MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
RACE OFFICE (517)
348-4425
CELL PHONE W/ VOICEMAIL
(517) 370-9843 FAX (517)348-2258
SPIKE’S
CHALLENGE CANOE
RACE EVENTS THIS WEEKEND > 7/22-7/23
Dozens of North America’s top marathon canoe racing
teams will be travelling to Northern Michigan’s AuSable River Valley and the
small north-central Michigan town of Grayling this coming weekend to compete in
the Spike’s Challenge canoe race on
Sunday, July 23. The Spike’s Challenge
is the final warm up before next
weekend’s $50,000 Weyerhaeuser AuSable
River Canoe Marathon, North America’s toughest, richest non-stop canoe race.
The Spike’s Challenge race offers teams entered in
the AuSable Marathon the opportunity to compete on the most difficult, twisting
part of the upper AuSable River course in the daylight. During the AuSable Marathon, July 29-30,
this part of the 120 mile non-stop course will be paddled in twilight and then
darkness following the 9:00 P.M. start of the Marathon on Saturday, July
29. The Spike’s Challenge is sponsored by Spike’s Keg O’Nails tavern in
Grayling, known as “the meeting place of
the north” and is co-sponsored by
The Grayling Restaurant.
Spike’s Challenge competition will get underway
with Sprints for Starting Position in the Grayling City Park from Noon to 3:00
P.M. on Saturday, July 22. Each team’s
elapsed time during Saturday’s sprints will determine the starting position for
Sunday morning’s running LeMans-style start of the Spike’s Challenge. The Spike’s Challenge C-1 [one-person canoe]
race will start at Borcher’s Canoe Livery [on Maple Street] in Grayling on
Saturday at 6:00 P.M. The C-1 race ends
at Burton’s Landing, located at the end of Burton’s Landing Road, approximately
3 miles east of Grayling on M-72.
The main event, the Spike’s Challenge Expert
Division Canoe Race, will start at Ray's Canoeing at 9 a.m. on Sunday, July 23,
and will end at McMasters Bridge, covering about 20 percent of the AuSable
River Canoe Marathon course. The C-2
[two-person canoe] Amateur State Championship race will start 5 minutes after
the Expert Division event. Ray’s
Canoeing is located on the I-75 business Loop at the AuSable River Bridge in
Grayling and McMasters Bridge is 16 miles east of Grayling, approximately four
miles north of M-72 on McMasters Bridge Road [F-97].
Several
of the AuSable Marathon top contending teams are expected to be on hand for the
Spike’s Challenge including the defending four-time Marathon Champs Serge
Corbin, 43, of Shawinigan, Quebec, and Jeff Kolka, 41, of Grayling,
Michigan. They will likely try to “make
a statement” to a number of would-be challengers, including the father &
son team of Ken Kolonich, 54, of Eaton Rapids, Michigan and son Steve Kolonich,
28 of Lansing, Michigan, who finished second at the 1999 AuSable Marathon.
Tactics employed during the Marathon include running in the darkness with no light on [to illuminate the river course] and also trying to “dump” or lose closely following teams by “ducking into” narrow flowing shortcuts in the twisting river course. Over one-third of the record AuSable Marathon field of 66 two-person teams entered for the 2000 event will be competing in their first AuSable Marathon, widely recognized as North America’s most grueling canoe race. These first-time Marathon competitors will especially benefit from the opportunity to make a competitive run on the upper river.
The Weyerhaeuser AuSable
River Canoe Marathon is held in conjunction with Grayling's AuSable River
Festival, featuring a host of events throughout Marathon week. For more
information on AuSable Marathon-week activities in Grayling & Oscoda, or
for information about tourism and recreational opportunities in the AuSable
River Valley area, contact:
Grayling Area Visitors
Council (517) 348-2921 (800) 937-8837 www.grayling-mi.com
Oscoda-AuSable Chamber of
Commerce (517) 739-7322 (800)
235-4625 www.oscoda.com
Extensive information, photographs and frequently updated race results for the Weyerhaeuser AuSable River Canoe Marathon is\will also available on the world-wide web at: www.ausablecanoemarathon.org