With two months to go until the inaugural 1000 Islands Charity Poker Run in Clayton, N.Y., organizers are expecting to reach full capacity by the time participant registration begins at the 1000 Islands Harbor Hotel on Thursday, July 13.

According to Doug Tulloch, one of the primary organizers of the 20-member poker run committee, more than 50 boats already have registered for the event that is being put together to generate money for some great causes and provide participants and their family members a chance to enjoy the beauty of the 1000 Islands region and the glorious St. Lawrence River.

New York’s David Czub, who owns the Impatient 1 Sonic (above), was the first person to register for the 1000 Islands Poker Run.

“Everything is going well in terms of planning and getting all of our approvals in place,” Tulloch said. “Attracting corporate sponsors has been a little challenging, but we expected that with a first-time event. If anyone is interested in sponsoring, they can still get involved. We definitely know the boaters want to come. We have room for about 80 boats so we think we’ll fill up.

“The host hotel is almost sold out so if you want to stay there I’d recommend reserving your room soon,” he added. “The Village of Clayton has several other places available for lodging so no need to worry. We even have additional marina space if necessary. Also, we’ve heard from many local establishments that are planning to step it up in terms of entertainment for the people coming in from out of town.”

Among those already registered, Tulloch said there is strong representation from some notable brands in the performance boat community, including Fountain Powerboats, Hustler Powerboats, MTI, Nor-Tech and more. He expressed his excitement about a new Lavey Craft Motorsports 29 NuEra V-bottom, which is a collaboration between the Southern California builder and John Mosetti, a Texas-based powerboat industry veteran who originally hails from the East Coast, and his brother, Richard, that is signed up for the poker run.

“The response has been overwhelming in a few ways,” Tulloch said. “Not only do we have a good group of enthusiastic boaters, we already have more than 60 volunteers signed up and 20-plus Marshall boats in place. We also have several volunteer rescue teams that we’ll be working with for the event.”

Tulloch asked if he could acknowledge the first participant to register for the 1000 Islands Charity Poker Run—David Czub. He said Czub, who boats on New York’s Great Sacandaga Lake, is set to bring his Sonic Boats V-bottom to the run along with a half-dozen more boats from his home lake.

“I can’t wait to meet David and those guys from Sacandaga—we’ve exchanged several emails since registration opened a couple months back and they seem like a great group,” Tulloch said, adding that he’s more than happy to receive calls or emails from interested boaters, sponsors and volunteers.

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