portage races

Rachel Brophy
ELY – This weekend nearly 600 athletes will arrive in Ely to run… and run. Roughly 400 of them will take part in the 13.1 mile-long Boundary Waters Bank half-marathon, while close to 200 will be running all 26.2 miles of the Ely marathon.
As if running a half or full marathon isn’t challenge enough, more than 20 racers will be attempting to do it Ely style— carrying canoes. For those not schooled in the language of the portage trail, that’s 4,195-rods for the half-marathon and an impressive 8,390-rod portage for the marathon. Anyone who’s ever portaged a canoe even a handful of rods knows that every rod counts.

sounds like a fun time for those who participate

Mocha: "sounds like a fun time for those who participate"

That sounds like misery to me!

Sounds inhumane to even allow it! lol!

I gotta start doing these. It’s right up my alley. I am very unorganized and a classic procrastinator and it causes me to miss out on awesome events like this. Please post pictures and results!

I did it the last two years, portaging a canoe in the full marathon. Took this year off, but best of luck to everyone participating. May the wind be calm…nothing worse than wind when running with a canoe.

Tony

puffing away

26.2 rods?? I can do that!