Topic might be dumb given todays interest level in speed.

What runs are left where there’s a good showing of hardware , horsepower , and the real poker run vibes my generation grew up dreaming about.

seems most events these days have become a glorified parade with go carts and fishing boats

looking to plan my summer around other like minded people who want to really run. Are there any events left ? Lot of travel to truck a 40 skater around to put around at 90 mph and follow a pace boat.

*this is not an attack on the old guys and their outboards. And this is also not a post where can we be stupid. I’m just looking to see what runs these days have a good showing of big power left*

You mean like these good old days!!

Boyne Thunder is a must see/do.

315Duramax,

Cumberland has the “ThunderRun” in June and the PokerRun in September. Neither have pace boats, but the PokerRun is sadly no longer a shotgun start. They are both more party than “run”, but you can run WOT for as long as your heart desires until you run out of water. Debris in the water has been an issue through most of June since they brought the water back up after working on the dam, but it’s been manageable for the ThunderRun, and mostly gone by the PokerRun.

A friend of mine has done the PokerRun the past several years:



This was from Burnside to Burnside, I think catching all seven (???) stops, with a detour to Harmon Creek for the bulk of the day. Boat was a Rinker236SC, so not a screamer.

Thanks. Brad.

i think we need a group to create an old school thunder run either in the thousand islands or lake ontario the charity run has turned into a center consul and weird sterio show playing rap we have been pushed out

yes exactly

im not arbitrarily saying let’s run WOT. But the cost of the runs , has largely gotten just a bit unattractive. More of a social gathering that you arrive to by boat. Rather than what they used to be. All for great reasons. Lot of amazing charities. Just looking for other like minded people.

I’ve heard the same regarding Cumberland run now, combined with the debris not sure I’m too interested in that one. Not much of a tie up or dock party person. Gets old after a couple hours

The Oneida Lake Chicken Wing run in September has been a very impressive turn out of boats. (Look it up online for videos). It seems to have always drawn a range of boats. Use to be low cost to enter and still is relatively speaking but it too is rising. But, right now it seems to be one to check out. Not a long run, one end of the lake to the other, 22miles. Just an overall nice display of hardware on a lake in central NY.

315Duramax,

You'll find everything you're looking for at both of these events. Lots of big power running all over from POI to POI. Since eliminating the shotgun start and scheduled route, in addition to opening the run on Friday instead of Saturday, most of the "PokerRun" is done by end-of-day on Friday, then everybody just kind of runs around the lake, checking out it's many nooks and crannies. You'll see what can only be called races all over the place. I, myself, have found myself in a skirmish or two, just because somebody thought we looked fast, I guess. Harmon is hopping both Friday and Saturday. Moreso on Saturday, though. We don't engage in any raft-up here. We just anchor out in the harbor, occasionally tying up with other boats, familiar and stranger alike. The people watching is amazing (all kinds; not just the sordid kind). The ThunderRun is still the shotgun start. I don't know if it's a scheduled route or not. I do find it odd that the promoters changed the format for the PokerRun, supposedly for safety reasons, but kept the old format for the ThunderRun, even though it's the same promoters.

The debris is mostly cleared up by the middle/end of June, but I could see skipping it if that is a concern. Memorial Day is a sh!tshow, as far as the debris. The 4th of July it's pretty much cleared up. But September, you're fine. This is not to say you don't put your blinders on, though.

Thanks. Brad.

The problem with CUMberland is all the cops that show up to make sure nobody has any fun, that`s the first time I experienced a DUI checkpoint on water .