Nearly 3,000 racers compete in the Ore to Shore Mountain Bike Epic

MARQUETTE, Mich. (WLUC) - The annual Ore to Shore Mountain Bike Epic, Michigan’s largest mass start, point-to-point biking event, took place Saturday morning in Marquette County. The event features six different races, and almost 3,000 people signed up and participated.

The first group to take off was the 10-mile Shore Rock race, which began and ended in Marquette. Jack Anderton of Marquette was victorious in that event with a time of 47:30.

Then, the 28-mile Soft Rock race got underway in Negaunee, featuring some of the top bikers from throughout the region. Corbin Grim finished first, and Ian Kangas finished second.

The two Marquette Senior High School students made it their goal to be the top two bikers in that race, and they accomplished it with times of 1:28:32 and 1:28:33, respectively.

Tommy Agnew of Fall River, Wisconsin, finished sixth in the Soft Rock, and he said he’ll definitely be back to compete again next year.

“It was pretty fun,” he said. “It definitely felt a little bit like a road race for the first little while with everybody attacking randomly and a bunch of people just flying way up there. It was definitely really fun and competitive and I would recommend it.”

The longest distance race of the day was the 48-mile Hard Rock race, which began in downtown Negaunee. Grayling, Michigan’s Jordan Wakeley completed the trek with a time of 2:29:57, good for first place. He came in less than a half a second before the second-place finisher.

The event’s success is attributed to mountain biking’s growing popularity across the country and in the Upper Peninsula.

Copyright 2023 WLUC. All rights reserved.