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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 7:00 PM  7/26/02 Grayling, Michigan    www.ausablecanoemarathon.org

 

 

A PAIR OF “YOUNG BUCKS” EDGE OUT DEFENDING CHAMPS

TO TAKE THE  “POLE POSITION” FOR SATURDAY’S START OF

$50,000 WEYERHAEUSER AuSABLE RIVER CANOE MARATHON

 

Saturday night at 9:00 PM North America’s toughest, richest non-stop canoe race – the Weyerhaeuser AuSable River Canoe Marathon - will start with a bang as 51 two-person teams make a thrilling LeMans-style run with their canoes through the streets of Grayling, Michigan to the AuSable River at Ray’s Canoe Livery.  Thousands of fans will jam the riverbanks in this small north central Michigan community as the paddlers begin a 14 to 19 hour, 50,000 paddle stroke non-stop race through the night to the finish line in Oscoda on the shores of Lake Huron. 

 

On Thursday and Friday the teams competed in the Sprints for Starting Position.   Much like Indy 500 qualifying, the two-person teams sprinted a short looped course to determine their starting row position for the ¼ -mile run with their canoes to the river for Saturday’s start of the 55th running of this granddaddy of marathon canoe racing.  The team with the quickest sprint time is awarded the Pole Position in the line-up for Saturday’s running start to the river.

 

Friday afternoon a pair of up and coming young Michigan paddlers – Mo Harwood, 23, of Grayling, Michigan and his partner Matt Rimer, 18, of Homer, Michigan - thrilled the crowd by sprinting the course in 5:39 (5 minutes, 39 seconds) to steal the pole position away from the six-time defending AuSable champs  - Jeff Kolka, 43, of Grayling, Michigan, and Serge Corbin, 45, of St. Boniface de-Shawinigan, Quebec.  Thursday, Kolka and Corbin sprinted the looped course in 5:40 (5 minutes, 40 seconds) and will be starting the run to river Saturday night from the second position.

 

Holding the third position for Saturday’s start of the Marathon is one of the teams that many Marathon observers have picked to challenge the reigning champs.  Bill Torongo, 40, Roscommon, Michigan and partner John Sullivan, 32, of Grayling, Michigan, finished the sprint course in 5:47 [5 minutes, 47 seconds].  Both Torongo and Sullivan have Weyerhaeuser AuSable Marathon second place finishes to their credit.  This is the first time that these two strong Northern Michigan paddlers have teamed together for North America’s toughest, richest canoe race.

 

The fourth team in the front row for the start of the Marathon will be Bruce Barton, 45, of Homer, Michigan, and partner Steve Lajoie, 26, of Vandreuil-Sur-Le-Lac, Quebec, who completed their sprint Friday in 6:07 (6 minutes, 7 seconds).  Rounding out the front row for Saturday’s start are Steve Watson, 30, of Onaway, Michigan, and Al Shaver, 35, of Meridale, New York, who also completed their sprint in 6:07 (6 minutes, 7 seconds) but were edged out for the fourth starting spot by 24/100ths of second. 

 

Kolka and Corbin may have been edged out for the pole position to start the race, but they have won the past six consecutive AuSable Marathons and are still considered the team to beat once the race begins.  Not only are the powerful Kolka-Corbin on a roll at the AuSable Marathon, they also won the Triple Crown of Canoe Racing championship in both 2000 & 2001. 

 

They are gunning for a “triple-Triple” in 2002, having won the first leg of the Triple Crown, the General Clinton Canoe Regatta, staged Memorial Day on New York’s Susquehanna River.  The AuSable Marathon is the “middle jewel” of the Triple Crown and La Classique de Canots, a three-day race on the St. Maurice River in Quebec over Labor Day weekend, is the final leg of the three race championship.   Cash and prizes awarded at the three races in the series total over $100,000. 

 

Excitement is at a fevered pitch among the participants and fans alike during the frenzied start of the race, which has been described as the most intense two minutes in competitive sports.  A total of perhaps 50,000 fans or more will cheer on the gritty Marathon canoe racing competitors at various points throughout the race.  The heartiest fans drive the full length of the AuSable River course from Grayling to Oscoda, moving from one viewing location to the next at public landings, bridges and hydroelectric dam portages to cheer on their favorite teams.

 

Staged since 1947, the AuSable Marathon was an ultra-endurance event long before ultra-endurance became “cool.”  The two-person teams must portage six hydroelectric dams plus battle the darkness, the river’s natural obstructions, the weather and the sheer exhaustion brought on by paddling their lightweight hi-tech kevlar or carbon-fiber canoes at a torrid pace of 50 to 80 strokes per minute non-stop throughout the 14 to 19 hour race.  They receive no assistance except food, drink and dry clothing shirt passed to them by their “feeders” or “bankrunners” at points along the course.

 

The AuSable Marathon pre-race program at Ray’s Canoe Livery, on the I-75 Business Loop in Grayling, will start at 6:00 P.M. on Saturday, July 27.  The winning team is expected to reach the finish line in Oscoda, at the Mill Street Bridge near U.S. 23, between 11 AM and noon on Sunday, July 28. 

 

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     

 

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