We are often asked, "Do you get to go down river?" Yes, we do! We took an evening paddle trying to take advantage of the "almost" full moon.

Ryan was done with the marathon
and Alex had not left for school yet.

Ryan, Allie, & John

Alex & Matt

Mark & Crew

Sara & Jim

Meanwhile back at the ranch...

Just because the rest of the staff is not racing, doesn't mean we are not busy.

Mark had to sprint about a hundred yards to catch the ice cream truck and direct him into our driveway.
Maybe we should call him the "Good Humor Man".

We continued launching canoes and giving our customers the "thumbs up" sign.

Longtime customer, Donna.


We had obstacles to overcome and occasionally, we were between a rock and a hard place!

Working at a canoe rental can be exhausting, but it's the best job you will ever have!

A canoe rental's summer is measured by Memorial week-end, 4th of July, Labor Day week-end and in Grayling, Marathon. It is a busy week starting with the Spike's Challenge and ending with the big race. In between are the business race, sprints, the Casey Challenge and a lot of preparation.


Over the years, we have had the pleasure of hosting many different teams at our B&B and this year was no exception. One of the women's teams, Kate & Christina, stayed with us along with return guests Peter Heed, Matt Meersman and his wife, Danielle.



We are in awe of all the preparations that the teams and their pit crew make during race week. We enjoy hearing some of the strategic planning regarding where to feed, what to take, how to run the sprint.

Kate & Christina with their pit crew pre-race.

Borchers was well represented in the race by current staffer, Ryan, along with past staffers, Sean Casey, Matt McDonald, and Lee Barnett.



Lee and his partner came in 5th, Sean and his partner came in 12th.

Matt Meersman and his partner, local Josh Taylor came in 4th.

Ryan finished his first marathon at a very respectable 27th!!!









Matt, Ryan, and Sean

Marathon Madness

Wow what a crazy week it has been. Marathon week here in Grayling and at Borchers is action packed , full of activities, and keeps us extremely busy. Besides launching boats this week the entire crew had to prepare for the under 18 kids race, "The Casey Challenge", held annually here at Borchers. This race is an 8 mile, aluminum canoe race that normally takes about an hour or an hour and a half depending on how fast the teams paddle. Borchers had a great turnout of 24 teams of boys and girls ages 12 through 17 competing in this race. It was not a big year for records with only one record broken by Naomi Kolka and Mikayla Ashton in the girls 12- 14 division.

Alex Gabriel did a great job of organizing the
Casey Challenge this year.
From the pre-race organizing,
through the briefing,
to awarding medals,
Alex kept the event running smoothly.
Alex has been on staff at Borchers for four years
and took over this event last year.



Sheriff Kirk Wakefield fired the starting gun for each heat and the paddlers churned up the water.

Alex had some great help from the rest of the staff and a couple of great volunteers.
Our long time guest and friend, Charlie Cole and his fiancee, Joyce, kept everybody on track at the "cut across". Sean Casey, marathon paddler and past staffer who re-energized the race many years back, and current staffer and marathon paddler, Ryan, swept the river making sure that all of the competitors crossed the finish line.

It is a Borchers tradition that any staffer that completes 5 or more summers with us is awarded a plaque to be displayed in the canoe shop. These young men & women become an extended family and their commitment to customer service has contributed immeasurably to the growth of our business. It is also a Borchers tradition to feed the crew and volunteers after the Casey Challenge. This year we had the honor of awarding Sean Casey a "Lifetime Achievement Award". Sean was on "regular" staff for over 10 years and continues to assist us with our website, t-shirt designs, and variety of other issues. We were delighted that his family could join us for lunch and that Sean had time out of his busy paddling schedule to sweep the Casey Challenge and lunch with us.

Race week!

The Borchers Crew loves any excuse for putting up flags or banners.









The week kicks off with the Spike's Challenge and ends with the Marathon.














Borchers staffer, Ryan, is competing in his first summer of racing. Ryan and his partner, Mike, finished 19th in the C-2 competition.

Our other staffers competed in the business race on Thursday night.

Jim & John took the upstream leg and Alex and Matt came downstream.


Borchers was in top place with a time of 9:40 until an upstart team ran their canoes upstream instead of paddling. They may have won the event, but they didn't truly compete.






All of the Borchers sponsored teams
did well in the qualifying sprints;
Kate & Christina - 42nd , Sean & Tad - 16th,
Peter & Tom - 37th, Matt & Josh - 3rd,
Ryan & Mike - 40th, and Nick & Matt - 47th.






Friday is the Casey Challenge! Kids 12 -17 race to Burton's Landing.

With the 4th behind us, we are sprucing up for the countdown to race week.











Each summer has big events like the
4th of July and Race Week,
but it is the highlights in between the big events that define our summer.


Return visits from families like the Brubaker/Kuser's and the Della Torre's















Families celebrating a birthday with a canoe trip....


Good Times on the river...

Families & Friends!

"Stringtime" providing a little bluegrass by the river...














Catching up with old friends like past staffer , Tracey
















And all of the kids...

What a 4th of July week-end!

We saw so many families celebrating Independence Day!
This little girl was certainly in the right spirit.

The crew got into the mood, the girls wore red, white & blue sailor suits. Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty were here, too.






















Even 'Cede wore her patriotic bandana.















We had fireworks and a picnic and celebrated half birthdays for Jerry, Allie, & Sara. Mark had a belated birthday.

Our all-American holiday was one of the highlights of our summer. Your visit will be, too!