Spike’s Challenge Race
About this race
The race is held the weekend prior to the Consumers Energy AuSable River Canoe Marathon and runs from the streets of Grayling to McMasters Bridge. Time trials for starting position are held on Saturday in the Grayling City Park pond. The C-1 Race is on Saturday night and runs from Borcher’s Canoe Livery to Burton’s Landing. The C-2 race is on Sunday where the canoes and teams line up on Ingham Street at 8:30am. The horn sounds at 9:00am and the teams are running towards the Old AuSable Fly Shop for their trek to McMasters Bridge. The purse for this race is over $7000.
Held the weekend before the Consumers Energy AuSable River Canoe Marathon, Spike’s Challenge includes a C-1 Race, C-2 Race, Junior and Fledging Races and Mentor Race.
The C-2 Race (Grayling to McMasters) is held on Sunday morning and features a Le-Mans style start. Teams line up on Ingham Street at 8:30am and the race starts at 9:00. Sprints are held on Saturday to determine starting positions for the C-2 teams. Teams that do not participate in the sprints will start in the last row.
The C-1 Race is held on Saturday night and ends at Burton’s Landing.
Lunch and Awards Banquet is held on Sunday at 2:00pm in the Grayling City Park Pavilion – bring a lawn chair. Lunch provided by Spike’s Keg ‘O’ Nails of Grayling.
For Schedule of Events, Sprint Course Map, Sprint Rules, and Race Course go to:
https://www.ausablecanoemarathon.org/events/spikes-challenge/
Pick your distance
Paddle sports
Spike’s Challenge C2 - Expert 1
Saturday July 19, 2025 - 8:00 AM Registration for all Spike’s Challenge events will run from 8am until 2pm at the Grayling City Park Pavilion. These events include C-1 Race, C-2 Race, Junior and Fledgling Races, Mentor Races, etc. Pre-registration is $45/Team, Saturday registration is $50/Team. Both paddlers must still sign in at the table in order to get a sprint position. Early registrants not sprinting must sign in by Sunday at 8:15am in Joe Wakeley’s garage. There will be no registration on Sunday July 20, 2025. All registrations must be received by Saturday July 19, 2025. Saturday July 19, 2025 - 9:00 AM Sprints for starting position at Grayling City Park Pond. Participants will sprint in the order in which they register or sign-in at the registration table. There will be a 10-minute break between each heat of 10 sprints. There will be two teams on the sprint course at a time. Teams may look over the course during the breaks. (See Sprint Rules) Sunday July 20, 2025 - 8:30 AM Line up of the C-2 start of the Spike’s Challenge on Ingham Street. Teams will line up based on their sprint time from Saturday. Those who did not sprint will start in the last row. Sunday July 20, 2025 - 9:00 AM Start of the C-2 Spike’s Challenge 2:00 PM Lunch and Awards Banquet at the Grayling City Park Pavilion – bring a lawn chair. Lunch provided by Spike’s Keg ‘O’ Nails of Grayling. For Schedule of Events, Sprint Course Map, Sprint Rules, and Race Course Map go to: https://www.ausablecanoemarathon.org/events/spikes-challenge/
Spike’s Challenge C2 - Expert 2
Saturday July 19, 2025 - 8:00 AM Registration for all Spike’s Challenge events will run from 8am until 2pm at the Grayling City Park Pavilion. These events include C-1 Race, C-2 Race, Junior and Fledgling Races, Mentor Races, etc. Pre-registration is $30/Team, Saturday registration is $30/Team. Both paddlers must still sign in at the table in order to get a sprint position. Early registrants not sprinting must sign in by Sunday at 8:15am in Joe Wakeley’s garage. There will be no registration on Sunday July 20, 2025. All registrations must be received by Saturday July 19, 2025. Saturday July 19, 2025 - 9:00 AM Sprints for starting position at Grayling City Park Pond. Participants will sprint in the order in which they register or sign-in at the registration table. There will be a 10-minute break between each heat of 10 sprints. There will be two teams on the sprint course at a time. Teams may look over the course during the breaks. (See Sprint Rules) Sunday July 20, 2025 - 8:30 AM Line up of the C-2 start of the Spike’s Challenge on Ingham Street. Teams will line up based on their sprint time from Saturday. Those who did not sprint will start in the last row. Sunday July 20, 2025 - 9:00 AM Start of the C-2 Spike’s Challenge 2:00 PM Lunch and Awards Banquet at the Grayling City Park Pavilion – bring a lawn chair. Lunch provided by Spike’s Keg ‘O’ Nails of Grayling. For Schedule of Events, Sprint Course Map, Sprint Rules, and Race Course Map go to: https://www.ausablecanoemarathon.org/events/spikes-challenge/
Spike’s Challenge C-2 - Junior or Fledgling
Saturday July 19, 2025 - 8:00 AM Registration for all Spike’s Challenge events will run from 8am until 2pm at the Grayling City Park Pavilion. These events include C-1 Race, C-2 Race, Junior and Fledgling Races, Mentor Races, etc. Pre-registration is $10/Team, Saturday registration is $10/Team. Both paddlers must still sign in at the table. All registrations must be received by Saturday July 19, 2025. Saturday July 19, 2025 - 5:30 PM Canoes will line up at Joe Wakely's dock and race to Burton's Landing. Adult C-1 Race begins at 6:00 PM. Sunday, July 20, 2025 - 2:00 PM Lunch and Awards Banquet at the Grayling City Park Pavilion – bring a lawn chair. Lunch provided by Spike’s Keg ‘O’ Nails of Grayling. For Schedule of Events, Sprint Course Map, Sprint Rules, and Race Course Map go to: https://www.ausablecanoemarathon.org/events/spikes-challenge/
Spike’s Challenge C1
Saturday July 19, 2025 - 8:00 AM Registration for all Spike’s Challenge events will run from 8am until 2pm at the Grayling City Park Pavilion. These events include C-1 Race, C-2 Race, Junior and Fledgling Races, Mentor Races, etc. C-1 Pre-registration is $20, Saturday registration is $20. All registrations must be received by Saturday July 19, 2025. Saturday July 19, 2025 - 4:30 PM Registration for C-1 will continue until 5:15 pm. 5:20 pm - Briefing and draw for starting positions in each heat. Heats are assigned by the order in which the contestant signed up. Saturday July 19, 2025 - 5:30 PM Start for Fledgling/Junior C-1 or C-2 races to Burton's Landing 6:00 PM July 19, 2025 - Start of the C-1 race to Burton's Landing 2:00 PM Lunch and Awards Banquet at the Grayling City Park Pavilion – bring a lawn chair. Lunch provided by Spike’s Keg ‘O’ Nails of Grayling. For Schedule of Events, Sprint Course Map, Sprint Rules, and Race Course Map go to: https://www.ausablecanoemarathon.org/events/spikes-challenge/
Spike’s Challenge C-1 - Youth (18 and younger)
Saturday July 19, 2025 - 8:00 AM Registration for all Spike’s Challenge events will run from 8am until 2pm at the Grayling City Park Pavilion. These events include C-1 Race, C-2 Race, Junior and Fledgling Races, Mentor Races, etc. C-1 Pre-registration is $5, Saturday registration is $5. All registrations must be received by Saturday July 19, 2025. Saturday July 19, 2025 - 4:30 PM Registration for C-1 will continue until 5:15 pm. 5:20 pm - Briefing and draw for starting positions in each heat. Heats are assigned by the order in which the contestant signed up. Saturday July 19, 2025 - 5:30 PM Start for Fledgling/Junior C-1 or C-2 races to Burton's Landing 6:00 PM July 19, 2025 - Start of the C-1 race to Burton's Landing 2:00 PM Lunch and Awards Banquet at the Grayling City Park Pavilion – bring a lawn chair. Lunch provided by Spike’s Keg ‘O’ Nails of Grayling. For Schedule of Events, Sprint Course Map, Sprint Rules, and Race Course Map go to: https://www.ausablecanoemarathon.org/events/spikes-challenge/
Spike’s Challenge C-1 - Grand Veteran (70 years +)
Saturday July 19, 2025 - 8:00 AM Registration for all Spike’s Challenge events will run from 8am until 2pm at the Grayling City Park Pavilion. These events include C-1 Race, C-2 Race, Junior and Fledgling Races, Mentor Races, etc. C-1 Grand Veterans Pre-registration is $5, Saturday registration is $5. All registrations must be received by Saturday July 19, 2025. Saturday July 19, 2025 - 4:30 PM Registration for C-1 will continue until 5:15 pm. 5:20 pm - Briefing and draw for starting positions in each heat. Heats are assigned by the order in which the contestant signed up. Saturday July 19, 2025 - 5:30 PM Start for Fledgling/Junior C-1 or C-2 races to Burton's Landing 6:00 PM July 19, 2025 - Start of the C-1 race to Burton's Landing 2:00 PM Lunch and Awards Banquet at the Grayling City Park Pavilion – bring a lawn chair. Lunch provided by Spike’s Keg ‘O’ Nails of Grayling. For Schedule of Events, Sprint Course Map, Sprint Rules, and Race Course Map go to: https://www.ausablecanoemarathon.org/events/spikes-challenge/
Typical race-day weather
Based on 9 years of Open-Meteo archive data for this event's race dates in Grayling, plus the 3 days either side.
The sun rises at 6:10 AM and sets at 9:19 PM local time (EDT) in Grayling on July 18, 2026 — 15h 08m of daylight.
Course
No course map published yet.
The organizer hasn't released a route for this event, and we don't publish guesses. If you're the organizer, send us a GPX file and we'll draw the profile.
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Where this page comes from. Race details were last updated on . We re-check listings regularly and again in the week before race day.
- Entries, prices, waves and inclusions — the event's official registration page
- Temperature and humidity — Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis via Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0)
- Elevation and terrain relief — Copernicus DEM GLO-90, ESA (CC BY 4.0)
- Comparisons and counts — Race Discovery calendar, 16 Grayling events
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