Press & Media Information
> NEWS RELEASE < For More Information, Contact:
Richest
Non-Stop Canoe Race! Cell
w/voice mail – 989-370-8840
Grayling to
Since 1947
Cell 989-464-0857
* $50,000 Purse ** 50,000 Fans * Race Office
Over
50,000 Paddle Strokes Non-Stop Phone – 989-348-4425 Fx
989-344-6809
> NEWS
RELEASE <
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 5:00 PM 7/25/03
Grayling, Michigan www.ausablecanoemarathon.org
EDITOR’S
NOTE: ENTRY LIST, MAP GRAPHICS (.jpg &
.pdf), PHOTOGRAPHS AND MORE ARE AVAILABLE TO THE MEDIA AND THE PUBLIC AT: http://www.AuSableCanoeMarathon.org
$50,000
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 65 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
Thursday and Friday the teams
competed in the Sprints for Starting
Position. Much like NASCAR 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 56th 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.
The seven-time defending AuSable
champs - Jeff Kolka [coal-ka],
44, of Grayling, Michigan, and Serge Corbin [surge core-bin], 46, of St.
Boniface de-Shawinigan, Quebec, hold the Pole Position for Saturday’s running
start of the Weyerhaeuser AuSable River Marathon by a very narrow thread. Thursday, Kolka and Corbin, in canoe #16,
sprinted the looped course in 5:34 (5 minutes, 34 seconds).
Friday afternoon last year’s
second place Marathon finishers, Mo Harwood, 24, of Grayling, Michigan and his
partner Matt Rimer [rhymer], 19, of Homer, Michigan – brought the crowd
to their feet by sprinting the course in 5:34.4 (5 minutes, 34.4 seconds), just
four-tenths [4/10] of a second slower than Kolka & Corbin. Harwood & Rimer, in canoe #3, will
line-up in the second position for Saturday night’s AuSable Marathon
start. For Kolka & Corbin, turnabout
is fair play. Last year Harwood &
Rimer edged out the powerful duo for the pole position by just one second.
Holding the third position for Saturday’s start of the Marathon is
another team that many Marathon observers have picked to challenge the reigning
champs in the main event. Finishing just
over two seconds behind Kolka-Corbin, in canoe #1, were Andy Triebold [tree-bold],
27, of Homer, Michigan and Steve Lajoie [lah-juh-wah] , 27, of Mirabel,
Quebec, who sprinted the course in 5:36.
Fourth in the starting lineup is the team in canoe #14, Bill Torongo [toe-ron-joe],
41, Roscommon, Michigan and partner Bruce Barton, 46, of Homer, Michigan, both
past second place finishers in the AuSable Marathon, who finished the sprint
course in 5:50 [5 minutes, 50 seconds].
Finishing just nine-one-hundredths [9/100] of a second slower and
rounding out the top row for Saturday’s running start to the river were the
2001 AuSable Marathon second-place finishers in canoe #81, Tony Short, 39, of
Indian River, Michigan and Denis Berthiaume [bear-tee-oom], 38, of St.
Jerome, Quebec.
Kolka and Corbin are considered
the team to beat once the race begins.
Not only is the powerful Kolka-Corbin duo on a roll at the AuSable
Marathon, winning seven in a row, they have also won the Triple Crown of
Canoe Racing championship the past three years.
The AuSable Marathon is the “middle jewel” of the Triple Crown of Canoe
Racing. New York’s General Clinton Canoe
Regatta is the first leg of the Triple Crown, won this year by Kolka-Corbin
over the Memorial Day weekend.. 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. Over 50,000 fans will cheer on
the gritty Marathon canoe racing competitors at various points throughout the
race, 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 5:30 P.M. on Saturday, July 26.
The winning team is expected to reach the finish line at the AuSable Inn
on US-23 in Oscoda, between 11 AM and noon on Sunday, July 27.
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. For more information about
the Weyerhaeuser AuSable River Canoe Marathon and festivals, or for information
about tourism and recreational opportunities in the AuSable River valley area,
contact:
Oscoda-AuSable Chamber of
Commerce (989) 739-7322 (800) 235-4625 http://www.oscoda.com
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 ###