Hugh Heward Challenge

The Hugh Heward Challenge
Sponsored by MGROW
mgrow.org/hugh-heward-challenge/

This annual paddling event, open to all paddlers, reenacts a one-day, 50-mile sprint down the Grand River in Mid-Michigan by British fur trader Hugh Heward and his French-Canadian crew in two birch-bark canoes on April 24, 1790. Over the past seventeen years, the Challenge has evolved to include paddlers comfortable with shorter distances, offering a 25 mile “Half Hugh” (Grand Ledge to Portland), and a 13 mile “Quarter Hugh” (Charlotte Hwy Bridge to Portland). Experienced paddlers may wish to paddle the “full Hugh,” a 50-mile route; recreational paddlers may wish to consider the two abbreviated routes: the 25-mile “half Hugh” or the 13-mile “quarter Hugh.” The event ends at Thompson Field in Portland, where paddlers can swap stories and enjoy the fellowship of other paddlers. Participants receive a certificate signifying their completion of the full, half, or quarter Hugh. Michigan historian and topologist Jim Woodruff learned about Heward’s journey and wrote extensively on the subject. In 2000, in the run-up to Grand River Expedition 2000, Woodruff challenged his friend, canoeing legend Verlen Kruger, and the entire mid-Michigan paddling community to match Heward’s 50-mile feat. Kruger accepted the challenge and invited others to join; the Hugh Heward Challenge was born.