Today we’d like to introduce you to Mia Zierk.
Hi Mia, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’ve been coming to Glen Lake my entire life. Like many, our family has been on the lake for years, and it’s always fun to come up with a new activity or adventure to explore. The Bordulac Attack is a multi-discipline adventure race on sand, road, trail, and water. Racers can compete independently or form a team and have from June 15 through October 31 to complete the six race segments using the Strava mobile app. What’s fun and unique about the Bordulac Attack is that you can compete any day or time you want, and you can re-race a segment to improve your ranking and move up the leaderboard until the course closes on Halloween.
Each race segment is a version of a beloved activity our family has been doing at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore since my Grandma Marie Ambrosius first came to Glen Lake in 1908. She was only sixteen when she bought her property on Big Glen under the advisement of her Aunt Kate and Uncle Robert, who already owned a cottage on Little Glen. Since that day, her children, their children, and now her great-grandchildren, etc., have been running up and down the dunes at Sleeping Bear, swimming and water skiing on Glen Lake, hiking the Alligator, paddling down the Crystal River, and biking all over Leelanau County. We have been doing these activities that she taught us all of our lives; I thought, let’s have some fun and celebrate the legacy of our ancestors who made this all possible for us! I call them the Glen Lake “OGs,” Original Gangsters, since they were the first of us at Glen Lake. Grandma Marie, coming from Chicago and being a contemporary of Al Capone, made the OG title even more perfect. Anyone who completes all six race segments earns the title of “Bordulac Attack OG.” My grandma named her property “Bordulac,” a play on the French bord du lac, meaning “edge of the lake.” That’s where I got the idea for the name of our race, the Bordulac Attack.
Creating an event that featured our favorite summertime activities seemed like a fun new challenge for all of us. We’d already been racing each other up and down the dunes and seeing who could swim to the buoy and back the fastest; why not create an actual race series? And unlike other races, you don’t have to compete on a specific day or time. If the weather is not good, wait and do the Crystal Paddle in a few days. Seeing how much fun my cousins and I and our friends were having, I decided to open the race up to the public this year. Anyone can register to compete alongside us in the Bordulac Attack. All racers are getting a beautiful lightweight and moisture-wicking race cap this year with a sublimated Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore map. Being a graphic designer, I do all the artwork and design for the race.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Creating the Bordulac Attack has been a 100% labor of love. There is no place I’d rather be and nothing I’d rather do than explore and play outdoors at Glen Lake. The hardest struggle has been getting the word out that this great new adventure awaits anyone with a mobile phone and the desire to have an adventure. Many people are already doing these events; they just don’t know about the Bordulac Attack. It’s a great way to kick-start or improve your workout and give yourself a challenge and a goal you can improve upon over time. The motto for the Bordulac Attack is, “It doesn’t matter how fast you go, just go!”
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a graphic designer by trade, but I guess I am best known as a creator. I have been doing art my entire life, starting in college at the University of Wisconsin in Madison when I painted my first rainforest mural at a local restaurant. I never thought I would work as an artist, so I went to paramedic school after graduating with a BA in English and Philosophy and landed a job on the Madison Fire Department. Being a former National Ski Patroller, I knew I liked and was good at patient care, and I got to do it outside! The fire department was an excellent spot for someone who loved physical activity and had a heart to serve. I enjoyed a great career there with awesome people until I left to focus on my art and design business, which I have been doing since college. While on the fire department, I started an online “firefighter athletic wear” business called Ride Backwards (because firefighters literally RIDE BACKWARDS when they sit in their jumpseats in the rig.) There was a call for quality apparel with cool athletic fire-themed logos since there are so many athletes on the fire department. I enjoyed great success with this venture, and it was a blast. Fast forward several years, and I am back on the water rowing. A sport I had picked up in Madison, then set aside for the pursuit of other adventures. I realized that we also “ride backwards” when we row, so, always loving a new challenge, I started doing rowing apparel under the same name. I have competed in numerous indoor rowing and on-the-water events. I love to row. During COVID, I saw a need for a virtual racing event for all of us trapped indoors with our rowing machines. I had already been operating an in-person indoor rowing event that I created called Fools Fest Sprints, so when COVID hit, I took it virtual. I was among the first to offer an indoor competition to people with ergs (rowing machines) at home. People loved it, so I am still operating Fools Fest Sprints virtual racing with a variety of year-round erg competitions, which include racers from all over the world.
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Favorite childhood memory is easily swinging on the giant swing at Glen Lake.
Pricing:
- Entry in the Bordulac Attack is $28
Contact Info:
- Website: bordulacattack.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bordulacattack/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BordulacAttack/
- Other: @bordulacattack – Threads
Image Credits
Bordulac Attack
