Faces of the AuSable River Canoe Marathon

GRAYLING —Once again Grayling’s premiere event, the AuSable River Canoe Marathon, brought racers and spectators from around the country and Canada.

Paddlers race down the AuSable River, some 120 miles, to Oscoda on the banks of Lake Huron Saturday night through Sunday. The race lasts between 13 and 17 hours for the paddlers.

It starts off with the paddlers beside their canoes in the streets of Grayling. After a gunshot, they must pick up their canoes and run with them two to three blocks to the river. Along the way, there are six places where the racers must portage a dam – getting out of the canoe, carrying the canoe up and down a hill and then placing it back in the water to continue the race.

Some are racing to win, while others are simply testing their endurance. Typically between 80 and 90 teams compete in the annual event.

They are kept going with help from a support crew which meets them at prearranged points along the river to supply them with food, drink and various supplies as needed. The crews wade into the river near the bank. Their team slows down long enough for them to drop supplies into the canoe and are off again.

Each team has its group of fans as well who follow the paddlers down river. Even the fans get a workout as they follow the race downstream with thousands of other spectators to various points along the river where they cheer on their team or teams, dash back to their vehicles and to reach the next check point.

Despite the fact that fans have their favorites in the race, each team is cheered by fans as they pass by. The spectators, like the paddlers, know that in an endurance race like this one, the winners are everyone who is able to complete the race, regardless of the place they take.