Retailer Completes 120-Mile Canoe Marathon to Raise Money for CMN

Going from never touching a paddle to accomplishing 120 miles of canoeing, independent retailer Ryan Clouse completed the AuSable River Canoe Marathon to raise money for four Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) hospitals in Michigan. The AuSable River Canoe Marathon is a grueling, nonstop 120-mile canoe race starting in Grayling, Michigan, and ending in Oscoda, Michigan.

“It took everything to finish, but it was so worth it,” Clouse says. “I definitely was not in the shape I am a year ago, and the training and paddling transformed me.”

As co-owner and operator of his family’s 23-store chain of Ace Hardware stores, Ryan is familiar with the work CMN does. He also has a much more personal connection; his daughter Kinsley was treated at Helen De Vos Hospital, a CMN Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She had a benign tumor removed from inside the bone of her hand when she was only 4 years old and then had to have the same tumor removed again just a year later.

“I’m forever grateful for what they did for my family, and my heart and prayers go to those receiving care from these great hospitals,” Ryan says. “I am forever in their debt.”

While he wanted to achieve his goal of raising $1.2 million, Clouse says the over $75,000 he did raise will still make an impact.

“I’m not scared to say I’m still after my goal, it might just take me up to 10 years to hit it,” Clouse says. “So, next year is already in the books to tackle the grueling race again.”