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.