Five Lake Orion residents and one Oxford resident will be competing in the longest and most grueling running event in the Midwest on Sept. 11, ‘Dances with Dirt? in Hell, Michigan.
Lake Orion’s Mary Chayka-Crawford, Gary Read, Melanie Kursinsky and Dennis J. Keener along with Oxford’s Denise Bartley will join with over 1,800 extreme trail running athletes from around the world to participate in the 62-mile event.
The team is named ‘Run on the Wild Side.?
‘Dances with Dirt? covers 62 off-road and often off-trail, miles of swamps, river crossings, hills and ankle-twisting footing.
Trail Running Magazine named the race part of the ‘Dirty Dozen,? ‘One of the 12 most difficult trail running events in the world.?
Chayka-Crawford, Read, Kursinsky, Keener and Bartley are a five-person relay team that alternate over 15 legs to complete the 100K course.
Rich Kursinsky will serve as team driver, making sure the runners are at the correct marker to begin each leg of the race.
‘Dances with Dirt? is in its sixth year and offers a 50K (31 mile) ultramarathon, a 50-mile ultramarathon and the 100km (62 mile) five-person team relay.
More information can be found at www.danceswithdirt.com.