For the Hardy: The Bushwhacker Challenge
8 Apr
Has paddling downstream gotten a little old for you?
Is paddling slowly just too, well, slow?
Hankering for a portage that’s seven miles long?
If so, the Bushwhacker Challenge on Michigan’s Pine and Chippewa Rivers might be just the change of pace you’re looking for. Held in honor of uber-paddler Verlen Kruger — and to raise funds for a bronze statue of him — the 150 mile race features all the grueling joys of across-drainage racing.
The event begins on May 17 outside Alma, Michigan and, tamely enough, runs downstream for 40 miles on the Pine River. At the Pine’s confluence with the Chippewa, though, racers will need to beat upstream for 65 miles past Mt. Pleasant, Michigan to the start of the seven mile overland carry back to the Pine. After another 40 miles downstream on the Pine, racers will finish back where they started.
Details on the event and donation information for the Kruger memorial can be found HERE.
