OSCODA – Steve Lajoie and Guillaume Blais were the first to reach Oscoda on Sunday morning to win the 2022 AuSable River Canoe Marathon.
It’s the 12th time Lajoie has won the race and the first time for Blais. The team finished the marathon in 14:36:17.
Their time was 2:13 faster than the second place finishers, Wesley Dean and Ryan Halstead.
Last year’s champions, Matt Meersman and Jorden Wakeley, finished third with a time of 14:48:33. Rounding out the top five were Mike Davis and Ryan Zaveral in fourth place with a time of 14:57:06 and Kyle and Logan Mynar in fifth place with a time of 15:01:17.
Lajoie did not race in last year’s canoe marathon and there was no race in 2020 due to Covid-19. Before that, Lajoie won 10 of the 12 marathons from 2008-2019 with his former partner Andrew Triebold. The pair also won the race in 2004.
Lajoie and Blais, both natives of Quebec, raced together in 2017 and finished in second place. Blais had finished in second place three times before finally claiming that first championship on Sunday.
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