Who says marathon canoe racing isn't a contact sport?
After paddling 193 kilometres, nearly 17 hours after he took the plunge into the AuSable River in northern Michigan, Chris Cupp of Prince George might consider wearing a helmet next time he races the AuSable River Canoe Marathon.
Cupp, 58, and his 39-year-old paddling partner, Jessica Kozarek of Minneapolis, Minn., had high hopes after they made waves in the Spike Challenge, a three-hour daytime race on the same course in the same stretch of river. They had just met for the first time and skipped the seeding time trial and as a result started 76th. But they found their passing gear and finished 30th.
However, in the longer race, which starts with a mad dash portage to jump into the river for a 9 p.m. start, they ran into a bit of bad luck. Or to be more precise, bad luck ran into them when two boats collided with them on two different occasions.
Then at about 2 a.m., they capsized a third time when they hit a log. The temperature was in the single Celsius digits when they flipped their boat while floating through dense fog. They each wore bright headlights and the canoe was equipped with lights but they failed to see the partially submerged tree and over they went a third time.
Cupp raced AuSable five years ago with Tom Pritchard of Bellingham, Wash. They hit a stump and sunk their canoe about an hour into it and were forced to withdraw. But this time Cupp and Kozarek did finish, placing 42nd out of 80 starters.
"We finished it and I should be happy but I just expected better," said Cupp. "We felt really good about the (Spike Challenge) and we were pumped about that. Then we had the whole week to train and practice with flashlights and paddle through dark sections and we did the time trial for that race middle of the pack but never really improved on it. We started 44th and finished 42nd."
The race starts in Grayling, Mich., and goes to Oscoda, on Lake Huron. Cupp says there's virtually no way to avoid the frenzied start to the marathon, with dozens of racers funneling into the narrow channel at the same time.
"It's total chaos out there and we got tagged from the back a couple of times and went for two early swims," said Cupp. "The river's only 20 feet wide and when you get 80 boats all in a hurry it's not going to be clean.
"Then it got cold and the fog came in and we were paddling down the river and didn't see the log - we hit something huge, which dumped us again. At 2 o'clock in the morning that's not the best time to go for a swim. We lost a bunch of places and all that time you're losing a bunch of energy."
Cupp said they also missed a couple of shortcuts through lily ponds, which added to their time. They finished in 28 C heat and clocked 16 hours 58 minutes 52 seconds. The wining time was 14:17:36.
"It's way better than the last time I went and I'm trying to find the finish as a positive but after we had done so well in the Spike we were hoping for better," said Cupp. "There were 16 that did not finish and it was my partner's first crack at it so she's was somewhat happy because it was her first attempt and she finished. The water was a little lower and I heard from some of the racers it was one of the tougher years.
"In the AuSable you want to be up in the pack with the lead teams because you want to beat some people into the darkness and not have as much boat-bashing as we experienced."
Cupp sat in the bow while Kozarek took the stern. He ate energy bars and drank a carbohydrate drink during the race and his wife Sheila met him at certain checkpoints along the river to replenish his food supply.
"It felt really comfortable for the three-hour race but sitting in a boat for 17 hours in one spot kind of wears you down," he said. "There were a couple sharp bits in the hull you rub against that kind of made a mess of my leg, but the paddle muscles were fine."
Cupp won the solo canoe Alexander Mackenzie route category a few weeks ago at the Northern Hardware race. Last year he won his age category and placed sixth overall and the General Clinton race in New York. Twenty years ago, he and Randy Olson of Bellingham completed the inaugural Yukon Quest, a 900 km race.
