Photo by Mark Bialek
Case Kittel and his brother, Ross, were in the middle of the Au Sable River when Ross turned thirty-two. It was midnight and they were competing in the 2023 AuSable Canoe Marathon, a grueling, 120-mile canoe race that starts in Grayling and ends the next day in Oscoda.
At midnight, Case says, he started singing “Happy Birthday.” There was another canoe near them; the folks in that boat “were like, ‘What?!,’” but they joined in the singing, too.
Case explains that for the first few hours of the marathon, “you’re bouncing off other boats, and that excitement keeps you going.” But by midnight, birthday or no birthday, Ross “was hurting.” Nevertheless, the brothers finished fifty-eighth: the fastest rookie team from Michigan.
The race “went a lot better than expected,” Case laughs. Still, “in the moment, we were both thinking, ‘We can do better than this. Let’s come back.’”
They’re already training for next year’s race, and Dexter is an ideal place to do it. Since January, Case has paddled more than 500 miles, most of it on the Huron River. He also runs, goes mountain biking in Hudson Mills Metropark, and fits in whatever other workouts he can.
He grew up in Manchester, and moved to Dexter in May 2023 with then-fiancée, now-wife Hayley Billingsley. Both work remotely: Case is a civil engineer, and Hayley, who has a PhD in exercise physiology, works for a biomedical heart device company.
On the Au Sable in June, Case says, Hayley kept them “going throughout the night” by delivering snacks and other necessities along the way. At one point, she stuffed a bite of birthday cake into Ross’s mouth before he had a chance to protest.
A runner, Hayley was training for the Detroit Marathon as the Community Guide went to press. She runs at Hudson Mills every other morning—the park is across the street from their home.
How is the Virginia native adapting to life in Michigan? “I definitely love it in the summer,” she says, “and we get through the winters.”
Both appreciate Dexter’s small-town feel and easy access to the outdoors: within five minutes, Case can have his canoe on top of his car and head for any one of a number of put-ins along the Huron, getting ready for Ross’s next birthday.
