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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Grayling, Michigan * July 20, 2001

 

N. AMERICA’S TOP CANOE RACING TEAMS TO COMPETE IN

 

SPIKE’S CHALLENGE  CANOE RACE SUNDAY

 

FINAL WARM-UP RACE BEFORE WEYERHAEUSER AuSABLE RIVER CANOE MARATHON

 

Many of North America’s top marathon canoe racers are arriving in Grayling, Michigan and the AuSable River Valley to compete in the Spike’s Challenge Canoe Race Sunday morning.  About 50 two-person teams will be on the starting line Sunday, July 22^nd, for the 9AM LeMans-style run to the river at Ray’s Canoe Livery in Grayling.  The Spike’s Challenge Race is the final warm up before next weekend’s $50,000 Weyerhaeuser AuSable River Canoe Marathon, North America’s toughest, richest canoe race.

 

The Spike’s Challenge Race 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.

 

During the AuSable Marathon on July 28-29, the upper shallow and twisting portion of the 120 mile non-stop course will be paddled in twilight and then in darkness following the 9:00 P.M. start of the Marathon on Saturday, July 28. The Spike’s Challenge Race offers teams who will be paddling in the AuSable Marathon a valuable chance to compete during daylight hours on this, the most challenging part of the upper AuSable River course.  Recent dry conditions and dropping river levels have added greater significance to the teams’ chance to get a good look at the relatively shallow and twisting upper AuSable River.   Tactics employed during the AuSable 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.

 

Spike’s Challenge canoe racing events get underway on the AuSable River Saturday, July 21, from 10 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. with Sprints for Starting Position in the Grayling City Park.  Each team’s starting position for Sunday morning’s running LeMans-style start of the Spike’s Challenge Race will be determined by their elapsed time during Saturday’s sprints.

 

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 Race for C-2 [two-person] canoes, will start at Ray's Canoeing at 9 a.m. on Sunday, July 22, and will end at McMasters Bridge, covering about 20 percent of the AuSable River Canoe Marathon course.  The C-2 Amateur 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 contenders are expected to be on hand for the Spike’s Challenge Race, including five-time defending Marathon champ Jeff Kolka, 42, of Grayling, Michigan.  Kolka also claimed a share of the Triple Crown of Canoe Racing championship last year with partner Serge Corbin, of St. Boniface, Quebec.  In 2000 the pair swept all three Triple Crown races, which include New York’s General Clinton Canoe Regatta and Quebec’s La Classique de Canots in addition to Michigan’s Weyerhaeuser AuSable River Canoe Marathon.  Corbin, who for over 20 years has been widely recognized as the premier marathon canoe racer in North America, is scheduled to arrive in Grayling this coming Monday and will not be teamed with Kolka for the Spike’s Challenge.  Kolka will be paddling Sunday with Calvin Hassel of Grand Island, Nebraska.

 

The Michigan Canoe Racing Association (MCRA) sanctions the Spike’s Challenge Tribute Race.  MCRA promotes the sport of canoe racing, works toward developing public awareness of the sport and encourages good sportsmanship.  Find out more about canoe racing in Michigan and MCRA at:  www.miracing.com     Extensive information, course maps, 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  

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