2009 Top 'O' Michigan Marathon Nationals Update

[KevJohn]

Looking out onto a very calm Burt Lake from the pit area in Indian River, Michigan’s DeVoe park the casual observer might have thought the 2009 Top ‘O’ Michigan Marathon Nationals boat race was going to be little more than a speedy pleasure cruise.....

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[kampkurz]

Pleasure cruise at Top'O

I will admit, the first leg of Sundays race, a squeezed throttle drag race across the south end of Burt and then a run up the west shore to the crooked river was very close to a pleasure cruise. Next came the always pleasureable run up crooked river to Crooked Lake, one of the best parts of the course.
But, as soon as we reached the 'sand bar', things got ugly. I passed a lot of A's and a few 25's that looked like they were having a lot less fun than I was. We made a little better progress along the south side of Crooked, but when we ran along the west side of Oden Island back up to the sand bar, I got the livin' snot beat out of me. Might have been me, but I thought it was very punishing.
The west shore of Burt was lumpy, and I remember thinking it was pretty cool that it took that long for the first 'D' to catch me. It was Nick Ladd trying to keep away from Josh Pearson, both veterans. The final run across the south end of Burt to get back to the Indian River was really lumpy. I remember thinking to myself, "Please, just let me get across this lake." But, alas, I made it into the river for the other great leg, the run down and back up the Indian River and back to the pit's.
Not a pleasure cruise, but I am sure it was better than a lot of the other years. If you've never been to Top'O, it's something you should do/see at least once. KampKurz

[KevJohn]

If you were there and raced please feel free to share your experiences. There are alway some great stories from Top 'O'!