Glen Arbor Sun editor Jacob Wheeler competed in, and filmed the 2015 M-22 Challenge, a unique Northern Michigan triathlon that includes a 2.5-mile run up the Sleeping Bear Dune Climb, an 18-mile bike ride around the Glen Lake and a 2.5-mile paddle on Little Glen Lake.
Voted the Best Endurance Event in Northern Michigan by Traverse Magazine, the M-22 Challenge has become the “must do” event for athletes of all calibers. This run-bike-paddle race is hosted in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park. This year’s M-22 Challenge will take place on Saturday, June 13, at 8 a.m.
The seventh annual M-22 Challenge, the popular and unique triathlon in the Sleeping Bear Dunes and around the majestic Glen Lakes, will be held on Saturday, June 13, 2015. The race is presented by Northpeak Brewing Company.
Maybe it’s true—the third time is a charm. Though my first two M22 Challenges—the first in 2011, my second in ’13—were fantastic experiences, this year’s event proved especially rewarding. Not just because I made it to the podium—a first in my seven years of racing!—but because I felt so strong throughout this 22-mile run-bike-paddle race. Is there anything better than a race where everything just clicks?
Jeff Smoke, 35 of Buchanan, Mich., is not a newcomer to the M-22 Challenge, the podium or paddle triathlons. Smoke kayaked on the 2004 U.S. Olympic team and took first place at the 2011 and 2013 M-22 Challenge. In past years Smoke has dominated the paddle portion of the race and this is where he would win the event. However, in 2014 he picked up his cycling pace, which proved to make the ultimate difference for him, as Denny Paull was only one second off Smoke’s paddle time. Paull, the 2010 and 2012 winner, came into the transition area from the run well ahead of Smoke, but lost valuable time to Smoke on the bike portion of the race. Paull finished second overall.
Imagine 900 kayaks lying side by side in rows on the banks of Little Glen Lake near Glen Arbor. A few yards away, picture 900 bikes hanging in organized racks. Beyond the bikes looms the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore where 900 athletes, ranging from 14-71 years old and hailing from 15 states and countries as far away as Switzerland, will run up the famous “Dune Climb”. You are picturing the sixth annual M-22 Challenge, which features athletes competing in the “Most Beautiful Place in America”.
“This year, I focused on being faster on the bike, and it paid off,” said Jeff Smoke, who won this year’s M-22 Challenge after relinquishing the gold medal last year to Denny Paull. Smoke, 35 of Buchanan, Mich., who kayaked on the 2004 U.S. Olympic team, won the popular Leelanau County triathlon in 2011. On June 8, Smoke regained his victor’s stride, and broke the course record with a time of 1:11:23.
The annual M-22 Challenge will lurch out of the starting gates at the Little Glen Lake Picnic Area on M-109 for the fifth time on Saturday, June 8, at 9 a.m. This unique and popular “up north” triathlon will feature a record 900 athletes this year — running 2.5 miles including a sprint up the Sleeping Bear Dune Climb, biking 17 miles around the Glen Lakes, and paddling 2.5 miles in Little Glen Lake. Athletes will include Keri Pawielski, who will compete for her fifth consecutive M-22 Challenge trophy, and Denny Paull, who has twice won the overall mens division once again.
Matt and Keegan Myers’ M-22 brand is back in the news, but for the wrong reasons. The iconic logo, of course, graces t-shirts, hats, coffee cups, bumper stickers, wine, and other items sold at retail stores in Traverse City and in Glen Arbor. The Myers brothers, who live on Old Mission Peninsula and run the annual M-22 Challenge, have made a killing since trademarking the logo about a decade ago. Sales reached $2 million this year, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Imagine, 800 kayaks lying side by side, end to end in rows on the bank of Little Glen Lake in Glen Arbor. A few yards away, picture 800 bikes hanging in organized racks just off of M-22. Beyond the bikes and across M-22, envision 800 athletes ranging from 14 to 71 years old and hailing from 15 states and countries as far as Switzerland running up the Sleeping Bear Dunes Climb. What you are picturing is the fourth annual M-22 Challenge — which will take place this year on June 9 — and if you’re unfamiliar with where it’s taking place, just know that the athletes will tread on what was named the “Most Beautiful Place in America” by Good Morning America last year.