Children’s Chance Lake Murray Charity Run Hits High Note

With a few local performance boaters stepping in to help ensure another successful and meaningful Children’s Chance Lake Murray Charity Run in South Carolina, the 2019 event went off smoothly and appears to have some good momentum as many of last weekend’s participants have been telling their friends how much fun they had and that they intend to return next year.

An excellent mix of performance boats showed up for the annual Children’s Chance Lake Murray Charity Run in South Carolina. Photos courtesy Eric Shahan

According to one of the organizers, Eric Shahan, who owns a 47-foot Fountain Powerboats V-bottom, everyone at the event had a great time thanks to ideal weather and an excellent host location, Liberty at the Lake at Lake Murray Marina in Irmo, S.C.

“We don’t have a huge performance boat community on the lake but we have a strong one, and you can do a lot of boating on Lake Murray,” said Shahan, who owns 803 Tinting And Auto Refinishing in Columbia. “We do this event to raise money for a great cause and to get together with our friends here on the lake.”

Based in Columbia as well, Children’s Chance supports families with children 18-and-under with social, emotional and financial needs, as well as end-of-life expenses, with a mission to help families remain in tact in the toughest of times.

“Each year, when we begin planning this fun-filled two-day event, I get so excited to see all of our yearly participants, new boats and old friends,” said Stephanie Amaker, executive director of Children’s Chance. “These two days in June bring so many people together—boaters, families going through cancer and people who just want to give. It is truly heart-warming to see everyone being so generous for the kids.”

Check out the slideshow above for more images from the Children’s Chance Lake Murray Charity Run.

With close to 70 boats on hand, the event raised more than $50,000, making it, once again, Children’s Chance largest annual fundraiser. Along with the good food and dockside entertainment during Saturday’s fun run, Friday’s Party On The Point at Gus Mallios’ home was a highlight thanks to the pool party featuring Hudson’s Smokehouse BBQ.

“We had all kinds of boats—everything from smaller center consoles and cool retro V-bottoms from Cigarette and Fountain to offshore catamarans and even a 57-foot MTI center console,” Shahan said. “Photographer Benny Brawley covered the run for us, and Phil Hess from Upstate Powerboat was on hand, as were Mike and Robin Layton of Adrenaline Powerboats in Georgia. Of course it was great to have Mr. Windship, John Woodruff, join us with his 48-foot MTI, along with Todd and Debby Campbell in their MTI-V 57 Unbridled and Mike and Angela Goldbaugh in their Skater 368 catamaran LATE FEE$ X2.”

As usual, Fred Reavis, who lives on the lake and owns a beautiful 48-foot MTI cat and a MTI-V 42 performance center console that matches it, participated in the run with his cat and had a great time. As did local performance boater Randy Cochran, who owns a pair of Fountain V-bottoms (a 42-footer and 47-footer) and let participants park their trucks and trailers in the lawn area next to his lakeside home.

“I went to Lake Murray about six years ago—back when I was doing 12 poker runs a year,” Woodruff said. “Now I pick four or five events that do positive things for their communities. I was going to head to the Texas Outlaw Challenge for my friend Kenny Armstrong’s party, but I decided to stay a little closer to home and instead drive 3 1/2 hours to hang out with some of my friends from South Carolina. It was fun. The turnout was good and I think they raised more than $50,000 for a great organization.”

Mike Layton, who brought both his company’s ZRX 47 powered by twin Mercury Racing 1100 engines and its new 45 Speede V-bottom with quad Mercury Racing Verado 400R engines to the run, said he had a lot of fun.

“The people were super nice and the lake was fun to boat on,” said Layton, who was joined by most of his family at the close-to-home event. “I liked it because it was kind of a medium-size crowd so it wasn’t so huge that you felt drowned out. The boat got a lot of attention, that’s for sure.”

Children’s Chance Lake Murray Charity Run Hits High Note

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