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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE    10:00 PM 7/27/01     Grayling, Michigan

 

DEFENDING CHAMPS HOLD “POLE POSITION” FOR SATURDAY’S START OF

 

$50,000 WEYERHAEUSER AuSABLE RIVER CANOE MARATHON

 

Saturday night at 9:00 P.M. North America’s toughest, richest non-stop canoe race will start with a bang as 59 two-person teams make a thrilling LeMans-style running start with their canoes to the river in Grayling, Michigan.  On Thursday and Friday, prior to Saturday’s exciting race start, the teams competed in the Sprints for Position.   Much like Indy 500 qualifying, the two-person teams sprinted a short looped course to determine their starting row position for the 1/4^th  mile run with their canoes to the river for Saturday’s start of the 54th Weyerhaeuser AuSable River Canoe Marathon.  The team with the quickest sprint time is awarded the Pole Position in the line-up for Saturday’s running start.

 

The five-time defending AuSable champs  - Jeff Kolka, 42, of Grayling, Michigan, and Serge Corbin, 44, of St. Boniface, Quebec - sprinted the looped course in 5:41.17 (5 minutes, 41.17 seconds) to claim the Pole Position in their quest for an unprecedented sixth consecutive Weyerhaeuser AuSable River Marathon championship.

 

Dry conditions throughout July dropped river levels on the upper AuSable to several inches below normal.  With a river depth of only several inches at the sprint’s downstream buoy turn, a majority of the teams chose to jump out of their canoes upstream of the turn to run with their canoes around the buoy before paddling the upstream leg of the sprint.  The powerful Kolka-Corbin duo demonstrated their strength once again, making a clean buoy turn without getting out of their canoe to run and completed the course more than 11 seconds quicker than the second place team.

 

Bill Torogno, 39, Roscommon, Michigan and partner Steve Lajoie, 25, Vaudreuil-Sur-Le-Lac, Quebec finished second in a time of 5:52.41 [5 minutes, 52.41 seconds].  This will be Torongo’s 19^th appearance at the Marathon; he has several second-place Marathon finishes to his credit.  Torongo & Lajoie are one of a handful of teams who Marathon observers give a chance to beating the reigning champs to the Oscoda, Michigan finish line if Kolka and Corbin should falter.

 

Last year’s second place Marathon finishers, John Sullivan, 31, Grayling, Michigan and Louis Berthiaume, 42, Berthiville, Quebec, finished third at the sprints [5:527.73].  Fourth, in 6:00.52 [6 minutes, 0.52 seconds], were Tim Valko, 32, of Pinckney, Michigan and Steven Corlew, 20, Grayling, Michigan.  Finishing fifth in the sprints [6 minutes, 1.37 seconds], and rounding out the front row for Saturday’s start of the Weyerhaeuser AuSable River Marathon, were cousins Jim Harwood, 36, and Mo Harwood, 22, both of Grayling.  Jim Harwood and partner Patrick Lynch, of Quebec, were the last team to beat Corbin on the AuSable when they took the title in 1995. 

 

The Weyerhaeuser AuSable Canoe Marathon is the middle leg of the prestigious Triple Crown of Canoe Racing.   New York’s General Clinton Canoe Regatta and Quebec’s La Classic de Canots make up the other two legs of the Triple Crown.   Cash and prizes awarded at the three races in the series will total nearly $100,000.  The race starts with the teams making a spine-tingling LeMans-style run several blocks through the streets of Grayling to the river at Ray's Canoeing at 9:00 P.M., Saturday, July 28.  The pre-race program begins at 5:30 P.M. at Ray’s. Thousands of fans will view all or part of the race, driving to public access sites, bridges, dam portages and other viewing locations along the AuSable River race course to cheer on the teams through Saturday night and on to the finish line in Oscoda between 11 A.M. and noon on Sunday, July 29.

 

The Weyerhaeuser AuSable River Canoe Marathon is held in conjunction with Grayling's "AuSable River Festival", and Oscoda’s “AuSable River Days”, featuring a host of events throughout Marathon week.  The Festivals recognize the unique importance of the AuSable River to these northern Michigan communities.  

 

Extensive information, photographs and frequently updated race results for the Weyerhaeuser AuSable River Canoe Marathon are available on the world-wide web at:          http://www.ausablecanoemarathon.org      ### END ###