Onaway Canoe Race is won by 2005 champs
Professional canoe racers from Michigan, Wisconsin, and Indiana gathered in Tower over the weekend to participate in the 5th annual Onaway Professional Canoe Race, which was won by Andy Triebold and Matt Rimer for the second year in a row.
They were the quickest of the 32 teams to complete the exhausting course, fighting a stiff breeze as they paddled upstream, to finish with a time of 1 hour, 48 minutes. The pre-race purse was estimated at $1,500. Triebold is from Concord, while Rimer hails from Horton.
Triebold was co-winner of the 2004 AuSable River Canoe Marathon with partner Steve Lajoie of Mirabel, Quebec.
The race was the fourth stop of the 2006 Michigan Canoe Racing Association schedule.
THE MOTHER?S DAY crowd included mostly family and friends of the canoeists, which was a bit disappointing to organizer Steve Watson, who would like to see more locals get out and cheer the participants.
The racers continue to enjoy the course, though. He heard favorable comments at the post-race banquet at the 211 at Black Lake. While the weather has not been the best the last few years, Watson said the participants enjoy this stop on the circuit and would ?come either way.?
Local sponsors also were supportive of the race, as the names of area businesses were taped to the bow of each canoe. ?I?m thankful to all the sponsors for making this happen,? said Watson.
THE CANOEISTS paddled one lap of Tower Pond at the start, before a sprint under the former railroad bridge, to the shore of Co-op Road. Racers then portaged along Co-op Road to Black River. From Black River the race continued across the open waters of Kleber Pond, to Kleber Dam.
Triebold and Rimer had little trouble maneuvering the Kleber Dam buoy as they started to pull away, but paddlers bunch
One participant barked at another team, and splashed water with his paddle after their boats bumped around the buoy, creating a wider turn for the frustrated team. The other group apologized as they continued in the other direction on Kleber Pond.
Paddling upstream was the most grueling portion of the race. A strong wind, picking up speed across the pond, blew hard in the faces of the canoeist. They then had to run up the steep grade of Co-op Road for another trip across Tower Pond and a then a short portage across M-68.
Candy Faith and Josh Tierney assisted with traffic control. Racers then continued upstream to a buoy just east of Cope Bridget before heading back for the finish. Saturday?s C-1 race was won by Triebold.