THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 30, 1994 TAG: 9407300380
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB HUTCHINSON, OUTDOORS EDITOR
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
For Randy Drake of Norfolk and Paul Facteau of Virginia Beach, the worst of it all will be the night, the darkness, and hardly being able to see.
That's when they will have to navigate their canoes down central Michigan's Au Sable River, lit only by two flashlights mounted on their boats. They'll paddle past black morasses and wilderness lining the shores, around tricky shoals and narrow curves, and past unseen rocks and whirlpools.
``I'll just feel a lot better when daylight comes,'' said Facteau, 26, who teaches computer science at Independence Middle School in Virginia Beach.
``I couldn't agree more,'' said Drake, 40, a William and Mary physical-education instructor specializing in outdoor sports. ``The first hint of daylight is going to be mighty pretty.''
But, Drake said, he has a game plan for the Weyerhauser Au Sable River Canoe Marathon, a 120-mile, two-man-canoe race that begins at 9 tonight at Grayling, Mich., hopefully ending about 11 a.m. Sunday in Oscoda, Mich.
``I won this race in '89 and what I did then is exactly what I plan to do this time,'' Drake said. ``I'm going to get real close to one of the locals who really knows the river and all its shortcuts, and I'm going to stay behind him until daylight.''
``When it got light enough to see where we were going, I just sprinted into the lead. I just hope I don't get behind someone doing the same thing. I may not be able to outsprint him.''
Facteau, who will be running the Au Sable for the first time, except for the few practice looks he has had in the past few days, isn't as fortunate.
``I'm apprehensive, to say the least,'' he said. ``Until I started practicing for this race, I'd never paddled at night. And I can tell you, everything looks different. It's easy to miss a turn or easy to run over a log or a rock. Randy won't be any more thrilled at seeing daylight Sunday than I will.''
The two canoers, who will be in different boats with their own team members, will be up against about 40 other teams, including most of the country's top racers.
But they are also among the elite of a sport, which although esoteric, annually draws more than 15,000 spectators for the start and finish, plus thousands of others who show up at various spots along the treacherous, twisting route.
Facteau finished third in the sport's national championships in Wisconsin in 1991 and was on the seventh-place team at Cooperstown, N.Y., earlier this year. The New York race was the first leg of a three-race series that includes the Au Sable and a final race in Quebec over the Labor Day weekend.
Drake, fifth at Cooperstown and first on the Au Sable in 1989, will be starting in Grayling for the seventh time. His finished a remarkable second at his Au Sable debut in 1985.
This year, Drake is teamed with Al Rudquist, 33, of Grand Rapids, Minn., for all three races. He raced with Eric McKett of Maine in 1985.
They'll be paddling an 18 1/2-foot Jensen canoe that weighs but 30 pounds, with paddles less than 8 ounces.
Facteau and his teammate, Jean Theilland of Shawinigan, Quebec, will be in an 18 1/2-foot Crozier that weighs 27 pounds and has 7-ounce paddles.
``They're both good boats,'' Drake said. ``But if you punch a hole in the hull, which is a lot like fiberglass, only stronger and more expensive, you either patch it or drop out of the race.''
Both Drake and Facteau are physical-fitness enthusiasts. The latter, 5-foot-7 and 160 pounds, roller-skates, skis downhill and cross-country, runs and swims to keep in shape.
Drake, 5-foot-9 and 165, was ``a serious long-distance runner'' until his knees gave out on him.
``I was born in Iowa and grew up in upstate New York,'' said Drake, a Hampton Roads resident since 1977, ``so I've had been around canoes all my life. When the knees went, I looked around for something to do and canoeing was it.''
A native of East Hampton, Mass., Facteau has lived in Virginia Beach two years. He also has been around canoes since he was a tyke. He became serious about competitive canoeing when he was about 20.
Saturday night's race is expected to take about 14 hours for the winning team, which means each paddler will put his paddle into the water an average of 55 to 60 times a minute, a total of 42,000 to 50,000 strokes.
``I'm not too worried about the endurance,'' Facteau said. ``I think I can handle that.
``The part that has me worried will be from the start at 9 o'clock, under a small, new moon, until about 5 in the morning, when I get that first glimpse of daylight.
``That's going to be a welcome sight.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos by Jason Cohn
Norfolk's Randy Drake, left, practices with Al Rudquist of Grand
Rapids, Minn., for the Au Sable River Canoe Marathon, which starts
tonight.
The Au Sable is new to Paul Facteau, left; Drake, however, won the
race in 1989. "I'll just feel a lot better when daylight comes,"
Facteau says.
by CNB