A week ago today, offshoreonly.com was buzzing with the news that Predator, a Skater catamaran with twin 1,500-hp engines, was “first to the card stop” at the Desert Storm Poker Run on Lake Havasu. Given the quality of the 150-boat fleet, which included several boats capable of 170-plus mph—Predator reportedly hit 185 mph—that’s pretty impressive.

And totally irrelevant, because getting anywhere “first” makes the journey a race and Desert Storm, like all poker runs, is not a race. Yes, that’s been said countless times before. You could even call it yesterday’s news. So why is it worth repeating?

Because that mentality, though much diminished, still persists in some quarters.

I am not trying to be the fun police or curb free expression online. I understand the excitement and enthusiasm. What’s more, I feel it, too. Even after 16 years of covering the high-performance world (I’m actually in the middle of writing a Desert Storm feature for the next issue of Powerboat), just hearing the poker run fleet take off, much less being part of it—and I’ve been in plenty—gives me goose bumps It’s a rush.

But it’s still not a race.

Want to know what really mattered about the Desert Storm Poker Run? Standing on the docks after the run in his own 155-mph Skater cat, Bob Teague, the event’s title sponsor, said it best.

“We had no incidents. That’s the most important thing.”

This is Friday and if you follow speedonthewater.com you know I try to report or comment on good news on Fridays. So here’s this Friday’s good news: A week ago today, the Desert Storm Poker Run took place without incident. Not sexy, but great news.