Ten Years In: The Incomparable Lake Powell Challenge

ByJason Johnson

In one week, I’ll be packing my bags for what I’m expecting to be the trip of the year. That’s saying a lot considering I attended the Miami International Boat Show in mid-February, the Desert Storm Poker Run in Arizona at the end of April, the Boyne Thunder Poker Run in Michigan in July and the recent 30th anniversary of the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout in Central Missouri. I also hit the trails with a bunch of performance boaters at the International Snowmobile Rally hosted by Michael “Doc” Janssen at his Wyoming property, Saratoga Hot Springs Resort, in January.

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Everything from luxury performance center consoles like this MTI-V 42 to sport catamarans and offshore V-bottoms are going to be on hand for the 10th annual Lake Powell Challenge. Photo by Tom Leigh/Tommy Gun Images

Considering I’ve never attended next week’s event, it’s an even bolder statement. Here’s the thing though, the hype around the Lake Powell Challenge hosted by Antelope Point Marina in Page, Ariz., has been growing steadily for the past few years, and it appears that the extremely charitable event, which celebrates its 10th anniversary next week (Sept. 12-16), is showing no signs of slowing down. So, yeah, I’m expecting big things.

Big things in terms of boats from the likes of DCB, Eliminator, MTI, Nordic, Skater and many other brands, not to mention the size of the houseboats, rock formations, smiles, sheer generosity, participation and, who knows, maybe even more money raised for the Mountain Valley Chapter of JDRF. The latter won’t be easy considering the run donated a half-million dollars to the charity. Yep, $500,000. To my knowledge, that is the largest amount of money raised at any performance boat event.

According to Burl Griswold of Antelope Point Marina, topping last year’s mark is possible but only because he believes the Lake Powell Challenge has the “most awesome and most generous group of participants any event could ever ask for.”

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