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Over the weekend, walkers and joggers took to Old Mission Peninsula roads on the last leg of their journey for the “Lighthouse 100,” a race event in which participants started in Petoskey and ended at Mission Point Lighthouse, located at the end of M37 (Center Road) on the Peninsula.

lighthouse 100, mission point lighthouse, marathon
Ethan Olds, Assistant Race Director, Lighthouse 100 | Jane Boursaw Photo

Participants, who chose between the full Lighthouse 100 (100 miles) and Lighthouse 50 (50 miles on the second half of the course), departed at 6 a.m. on Saturday, June 10, from the Petoskey Lighthouse on Little Traverse Bay, heading south along Lake Michigan, Torch Lake, East Grand Traverse Bay and through Traverse City, ending at Mission Point Lighthouse.

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Racers were on the course all day Saturday, with many hitting Peninsula roads late Saturday night and early Sunday morning, wearing lights and carrying light sticks in order to be visible on the roads during the night.

However, not all Old Mission Peninsula residents were happy about the race, citing safety concerns for participants and residents, noting that they weren’t informed about the race ahead of time, and expressing concerns over seeing racers on Peninsula roads through the night.

Mission Point Lighthouse Manager Ginger Schultz agreed that race promoters didn’t adequately notify OMP residents of the event. “They also left their signs everywhere,” she said, adding, “We should have known [the event organizer] was not forthcoming with all the information when he sold entries to this event before meeting with Peninsula Township.”

I spoke with assistant race director Ethan Olds on Sunday, who said that about 120 participants started the race, but that heat and wind caused many to drop out. Still, he felt that overall the race was a success and said he would notify the Gazette ahead of next year’s race.

Learn more about the Lighthouse 100 at their website, and leave thoughts about the race in the comments section at the bottom of this post.

A NOTE FROM JANE: I started Old Mission Gazette in 2015 because I felt a calling to provide the Old Mission Peninsula community with local news. After decades of writing for newspapers and magazines like the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Family Circle and Ladies' Home Journal, I really just wanted to write about my own community where I grew up on a cherry farm and raised my own family. So I started my own newspaper. Because the Gazette is mainly reader-supported, I hope you'll consider tossing a few bucks my way if I mention your event, your business, your organization or your news item, or if you simply love reading about what's happening on the OMP. Check out the donation page here. Thank you so much for your support. -jb

Bay View Insurance of Traverse City Michigan

2 COMMENTS

  1. Jane,

    This is Dave Krupski, the Lighthouse 100 race director. Your article is the first we have heard from any OMP resident about concerns regarding the race.

    Over the course of the last several months, we had two in-person meetings with OMP, police, and fire department staff (including Christina Deeran, the Assistant Supervisor and Zoning Manager for OMP), the Fire Chief, Randy Rittenhouse (as well as other Peninsula FD officials), the Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Department, and the manager of the Old Mission Lighthouse (Ginger Shultz, who was present at our first meeting). We obtained ALL necessary approvals to host the final 20 miles of the race on the OMP. Please contact Christina Deeran, who will verify everything I just wrote. At our final meeting (last Wednesday), all officials gave their final “a-ok” and offered to help in any way they could.

    The Peninsula Fire Department was especially graceful; they offered to host the final “aid station” of the course at the fire department, and they said they are looking forward to next year’s race.

    Regarding some of the points raised in the article, the race rules required all runners to wear 360 degrees of reflective clothing at nighttime, as well as a headlamp, and blinking lights on the front and backs of their bodies.

    Finally, regarding the small directional signs on the course, most of them have been picked up already. While a few may remain on the course, please keep in mind the race lasted for 30 hours and just ended yesterday afternoon. The race staff simply needed to get some rest after being awake for close to 48 hours setting up the race, hosting it, and then participating in all the post-race activities. The few remaining signs on the course will be removed tomorrow morning.

    If you — or any OMP resident — have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at [email protected].

    Best,
    Dave Krupski

    • Thanks so much for the note, Dave. I appreciate your thoughtful response. For some reason, the word didn’t seem to get out to OMP residents, and I think a lot of folks didn’t know this event was happening.

      I’ll take the blame for part of that – we’re usually good about giving folks a heads up in Old Mission Gazette, but I was down at University of Michigan Hospital for the past couple of months with my husband’s medical issues, so I didn’t get to the township meetings where the Lighthouse 100 was discussed.

      I know the Bayshore Marathon organizers send out a couple of postcards to the residents ahead of time, which helps to let residents know what to expect with race events. (And apologies if you did and I missed it!).

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