Thanks to the participants, sponsors and organizers of the 2025 Boyne Thunder Poker Run, the Camp Quality-Michigan and Challenge Mountain programs for children will share $230,000 raised during the early 22nd annual event in early July. According to Boyne Thunder events coordinator Ingrid Day, the funds are being dispersed between the two nonprofit children’s charities this morning.

The Boyne Thunder Poker Run has raised more than $1 million for local children’s charities in the five years. Photo by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

“This is the best day of the event, the day when you know you will make an impact on the lives of those our two charities support,” Day said.

The Boyne Thunder Poker Run is limited to 120 entries and—based on demand—is the most popular event of its kind. General registration sold out in a recording-setting two minutes this year. Also a record-setter, sponsor registration sold out in four days.

In addition to the 100-plus-mile poker run on Saturday, the standard-setting event includes a Thursday lunch run to Bay Harbor, another record-setter in 2025, followed by a welcome party at the Boyne Mountain Resort that evening and a Friday evening street celebration and powerboat-and-automobile display.

“In the last five years, our incredibly generous participants have allowed us to raise over $1 million in the past five years alone,” Day added.