A Kiwi at the Top O’ Michigan
When we spoke with Ken Lupton after his Grand Prix Hydroplane outing in Tonawanda, he hinted he might “have a bit of fun” by heading to the Top O’ Michigan Marathon Nationals. True to his word, the HRL champion and 2025 series leader turned up in Indian River, swapping his thunderous GP hull for a kneeler and taking on one of outboard racing’s most historic tests.
The Top O’ Michigan is no ordinary event. Run by the Top O’ Michigan Outboard Racing Club (TOMORC) since 1949, it is recognised as the oldest and most prestigious race in the outboard marathon circuit. The two-day challenge covers nearly 82 miles of rivers and lakes in Northern Michigan, with conditions that test both stamina and seamanship.
Racing on his knees
Unlike hydroplanes, outboard marathon racers compete kneeling, bracing against pounding waves and sharp turns for hours at a time. Lupton, more accustomed to strapped-in cockpits and roaring V8s, gamely accepted the challenge. With support from Donny Allen, Dylan Runey, and fellow competitor Andrew Tate, he joined the field of 97 entries — less than half of whom would finish across the two days.
Crew chief Steve Preece and radio man Mike Monaghan kept him in the fight, and while the Kiwi admitted he might be “a little sore” from the experience, completing both races was a serious achievement.
The Inland Waterway test
The courses are as gruelling as they are scenic.
- Saturday saw the fleet tackle 42 miles, starting from Burt Lake before surging down the Indian River, across Mullett Lake, and up the Cheboygan River to a city turnaround, before retracing the route back to Devoe Beach.
- Sunday’s 42-mile leg took racers across Burt Lake, through the twisting Crooked River, around Crooked Lake, then back via Burt and the Indian River to finish at Devoe Beach.
It’s a course defined by unpredictability — five-foot rollers, pleasure-boat wake, stump fields, and notorious turns like Devil’s Elbow. Victory isn’t just about speed; it’s about surviving the full distance.
A race with history
The Top O’ Michigan traces its roots to 1949, when Ed Maloney of the Topinabee Hotel and Fred Hanscon of Gaylord dreamed up a marathon that would showcase the Inland Waterway. That first race drew 73 entries, with only 45 finishing. Seventy-seven years later, the challenge remains the same: beat the waterway itself.
As the club’s definition of victory puts it: “an act of defeating Mullett Lake, Devil’s Elbow and Cheboygan stump fields on the second full weekend in August each year.”
A Kiwi stamp on history
Although he came 23rd on Saturday and 25th on Sunday in the CSR class (something he’s probably not been used to for a while), by completing the Top O’ Michigan, Ken Lupton added his name to a select list of international racers who have taken on the course. From Tonawanda’s flat-out hydroplanes to Michigan’s twisting rivers, the Waverley farmer and GP champion once again showed the grit and adaptability that define his family’s racing legacy.
For a man who loves a challenge, kneeling through the spray of Northern Michigan was the perfect way to prove it.
