It began as a bit of a lark; then it evolved into one of the most popular events in northern Michigan.

That’s the story of the M22 Challenge, the triathlon-with-a-twist endurance race that local retailer and lifestyle brand M22 launched back in 2009. Now in its 15th year, the M22 Challenge is set to go ahead inside the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore tomorrow, Saturday, June 10. To commemorate the 15th anniversary of this massively popular event, the Leelanau Ticker sat down with M22 co-founder Matt Myers to find out how the M22 Challenge took form and how it has evolved over time.

The M22 brand was first established in 2004 by Matt and his brother Keegan, both of whom were born and raised in Traverse City. While the pair are TC natives, though, Myers says that M22 was shaped just as much by Leelanau County – hence the reason that a key Leelanau highway gave the company both its name and iconic logo.

“We fell in love with Leelanau County, and with our hometown all over again, when we started kiteboarding,” Myers says of M22’s roots. “Kiting just really attached us to the area in a new way. And once we started growing the M22 brand, we wanted to come up with an experience for the brand that would appeal to a broader range of people, because kiteboarding is such a niche. We wanted to do something that really utilized the beauty of the area and showcased the beauty of northern Michigan and the Great Lakes.”

That thought process led the Myers brothers to devise what ultimately became the M22 Challenge.

“We were getting into triathlons at the time, and we thought that was something that many more people could do, versus kiteboarding,” Myers tells the Leelanau Ticker. “And then we landed on the idea of Sleeping Bear Dunes as a venue, because it’s such an iconic, beautiful northern Michigan place.”

To make the event as universally appealing as possible, the Myers brothers traded the swim segment of the race – generally thought to be the toughest leg of a triathlon – for a paddle section. From there, it was just a matter of arranging a partnership with the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore before the M22 Challenge was (literally) off to the races. Of course, that final step proved to be the most difficult one.

“It is not easy to permit an event of this size with the National Lakeshore,” Myers admits. “They have a lot of control over what we’re able to do. It's why you don't see beer [at the finish line], it’s why you don’t see food. We're very limited as to what we can do. We can't even really have sponsors. But I also think, overall, those limitations end up adding to the authenticity of the event.”

M22 has also gotten a little more wiggle room with Sleeping Bear Dunes over time, in part because the M22 Challenge is now a proven commodity. Specifically, the race has been able to grow its participant capacity over time – albeit, only to a point.

“[The National Lakeshore] would limit us as to how many participants we could have,” Myers explains. “So, we started at 300. And then maybe they said, ‘Ok, we’ll let you do 500.’ And then, eventually, we got to 900. But once we got to 900, I believe their management decided that that’s about the capacity the park can handle for what we’re doing.”

At first, even a 300-person cap wasn’t a problem. When the M22 Challenge launched in 2009 – and for the first couple years after – Myers says a big part of organizing the event was “just doing anything we could do to get people to show up.” After all, the M22 Challenge was the new kid on the block as far as endurance races go, and the unusual configuration of the race – standup paddleboarding hadn’t taken off yet, and paddle races in general were rare – registrations for the event weren’t exactly flying off the virtual shelves.

After three or four years, though, Myers says the word-of-mouth kicked in.

“Once people experienced it, they would tell us, ‘Wow, I've never ever done an event like this before. This is one-of-a-kind.’ Everybody wanted to come back year after year, and then they also went off and told their family and friends about it.”

The repeat participants, plus the growing buzz, meant the days of just trying “to get people to show up” were over. According to Myers, when registration for the M22 Challenge opens up on March 1, it typically sells out within an hour. “Some years, it sells out within a minute or two,” he laughs.

Come June, 900 racers descend on Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore for the event, which puts competitors through a 2.5-mile run (complete with a dash up and down the Dune Climb), a 17-mile bike ride around Glen Lake, and a paddle on Little Glen, where racers get to select their craft of choice between kayak, surfski, and standup paddleboard.

For Myers – who has raced the event in addition to his role as one of the organizers – it’s the little unusual elements of the M22 Challenge that make it fun. There are a lot of triathlons out there, he says, but not many require participants to sprint up a sand dune or paddle their way across a lake – nor does every triathlon take place in a park that has been dubbed “The Most Beautiful Place in America.”

“What’s cool about the M22 Challenge is who we attract because the race is so unique,” Myers says. “We do get really top-notch athletes, who come in with the goal of winning the M22 Challenge. But because we don't have swimming, because it's a paddle event, and because it's Sleeping Bear Dunes, we also get a ton of ‘weekend warriors.’ They're not diehard racers, they're doing it more for fun. And I think that's what gives our race a really fun vibe.”

In terms of top-notch athletes, a few names crop up repeatedly at the top of the M22 Challenge leaderboard. One is Ryan DeCook, a one-time professional triathlete who has won the race on five previous occasions (including last year) and who also holds the course record (1:09:25, set in 2019). Another is Jeff Smoke, a Michigander who competed as a canoe sprinter in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. A third is Jamie Endicott, a Traverse City native who, like Cook, has five M22 titles to her name. All three are registered to race tomorrow.