AuSable River Canoe Marathon – The 74th annual running of One of the Greatest Canoe Races on Earth – The AuSable River Canoe Marathon, Presented by Consumers Energy – is upcoming July 24-25, 2021.

What is the AuSable River Canoe Marathon?

At 9:00 p.m. , two-person teams will begin North America’s toughest, richest, non-stop canoe race.  At the sound of the gun, the teams, carrying their canoes on their shoulders, race several blocks through the streets of Grayling, Michigan to the AuSable River in front of The Old AuSable Fly Shop.  The fourteen to nineteen hour, 120 mile race, runs throughout the night, finishing in Oscoda at Lake Huron.  Considered to be the world’s toughest spectator sport, approximately 50,000 fans will cheer on the competitors at various points throughout the race. 

Race fans are an integral part of the AuSable River Canoe Marathon.  They cheer and motivate their favorite teams throughout the night.  They must find access to the river in total darkness, navigate among thousands of other fans in order to get a glimpse of their favorite team, and then move downstream to another public landing, bridge, or Consumers Energy hydro portage. Fans will drive, wait patiently for their team to appear at each point in the river, and cheer madly for 14 to 19 hours as the contestants move down river. 

 Racers must portage the six dams and battle darkness, the river’s natural obstructions, weather conditions, and sheer exhaustion brought on by paddling their lightweight canoes at a torrid pace of 50 to 80 strokes per minute, non-stop to finish the race. They receive no aid except food, drink, and perhaps a dry shirt passed to them by their “feeders” at points along the course.  During the eight hours of nighttime paddling, they receive little assistance from the moon in avoiding the river’s natural obstacles and are allowed only a small light on the front of their canoe.  The race committee does encourage all teams to use GPS to assist them with navigating the river during night-time hours. The racers must be in top physical condition and most participants cross train in other sports all year round.

The racing action gets underway at Penrod’s Canoe Livery (Maple Street Bridge in Grayling) with the AuSable Marathon Time Trials for starting position on Wednesday, July 24 through Friday, July 26.  The Time Trials are much like “Indy 500” qualifying: each team paddles a short looped course with their lap time determining their starting row position for the LeMans’ style run to the river on Saturday. 

Other events surrounding the Marathon include youth canoe races, a 10k run, concert, antique car show, parade, concessions and an arts & crafts show.  A complete schedule of events can be obtained by visiting http://www.ausableriverfest.com/

For more information on the AuSable River Canoe Marathon and to see a list of sponsors, including Presenting Sponsor Consumer’s Energy, visit www.ausablecanoemarathon.org

If you can’t follow the race in-person, follow on the radio and online! 
– Frequent reports throughout the race will be carried by the Official Radio Stations of the AuSable Marathon: 98.5 UPS-The Station that Delivers and @HITSFM 94.9&103.3. These stations will also be streaming LIVE on the web. 
– Via periodic live and nearly-live reports on our Facebook Page
– Follow teams on the online GPS Race Mapping, on the websiteAuSableCanoeMarathon.org

Here are links to AuSable Marathon & Grayling / Oscoda area information resources:

– The Marathon website with links to live race coverage, race info, stats, visitor info and more: ausablecanoemarathon.org/ 

– The Marathon Program Guide & Spectator Guide online: issuu.com/ausablecanoemarathon

– The Marathon on Instagram – @AuSableMarathon

– The Marathon YouTube Channel – AuSable Canoe Marathon: youtube.com/user/AuSableCanoeMarathon

– The Marathon Twitter Feed – @AuSableMarathon: twitter.com/AuSableMarathon