by Cassie Mattia

Loveland, Ohio (The Staycation Resort of Southwest Ohio)- I met Meredith Taylor and Mark Bersani on the most beautiful of sunny afternoons on the bank of our State and National Scenic and wild Little Miami River yesterday to ask them questions about the up-coming Loveland Frogman Race, but the conversation also turned to important topics of interest about two Loveland institutions. Mark and his wife Robin own Loveland Canoe & Kayak and Meredith is the Program Director of the Little Miami River Chamber Alliance.

The Frogman Race is centered at Loveland Canoe & Kayak in Historic Downtown and Mark promises plenty of available parking in the civic lot adjacent to his business. You will be taken by bus into Warren County to canoe/kayak back to Loveland, and then bike the Loveland Bike Trail to Miami Township’s Riverview Park and sprint back again. Sprint if you can, however, Mark and Meredith say the event is more for fun than the competition of it. There is however plenty of pride and friendly home-grown competition in winning or beating your time from last year. Can you claim the title of “Top Frog”?

Individual spots (all of the kayaks have been reserved) for the 5 Mile Canoe/Kayak, 8 Mile Bike ride, and 5K Run have filled, but you can still register as a team and reserve a canoe.

Both Meredith and Mark were pretty coy in their answers when asked whether anyone would run into the famous Loveland Frog along the course, in or out of the river!

We also talked about wine tastings, morning mixers, the Chamber’s 300th member celebration, the Fall for Symmes Fall Festival, and the annual Chamber award banquet.

Mark shares the remaining dates on their river calendar if you still want to get on the scenic river this year and how he and Robin are hosting a large group of inner-city youth on the river immediately after the finish of the Frogman Race.

PHEW! That’s a lot of good information. I hope you enjoy our conversation.