Super Stock-class offshore powerboat racers Chris Hopgood and Daren Kittredge have two things in common beyond their competitive nature and love for the sport. Both have homes at Lake Winnipesaukee. And both do everything they can to be there for the annual HK Powersports Land and Lake Poker Run—set this year for July 11—on the pristine New Hampshire waterway.
“The Lake Winnipesaukee run allows folks to get to get together for a great cause and experience fantastic boating,” Hopgood said.
Performance enthusiasts from around New England come to support the HK Powersports Land and Lake Poker Run.
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Kittredge echoed his friend’s sentiment. “It’s about being able to enjoy a place that I think is so special with a group of awesome people that care about others,” he said.
A former world champion offshore racer, Danny DeSantis also has a home at the lake and has long-supported the event, which benefits Easterseals of New Hampshire and will celebrate its 25th anniversary this year. A work obligation abroad will keep DeSantis out of this year’s affair, but he plans to get even more involved in the event starting in 2027.
Though he won’t make it this year, Danny DeSantis is entrenched in the Lake Winnipesaukee community.
“This is where my boating life began,” DeSantis said. “I started coming here in 1978. If it weren’t for boating on Lake Winnipesaukee, I would never have become a world champion offshore racer.
“It’s a tight community here,” he continued. “Everybody knows and supports each other. There’s no place to hide. We are one big family and we all support our community.”
Yet without its team of organizers and volunteers, the NASWA Resort-based event wouldn’t happen. The HK Powersports Land and Lake Poker Run organizing team includes Jeff Boryszewski of event sponsor Kellogg Marine Supply. Boryszewski—in turn—helps solicit sponsorships for the run from marine industry companies. This time around, he’s even secured a photo-boat for speedonthewater.com contributing photographer Jeff Helmkamp.
Fellow committee member Jeffrey Levitan, who owns five radio stations in the area and is one of the event’s founder, runs advertisements for the Lake Winnipesaukee happening. Another member of the committee, Levitan’s wife, Jane Love, handles the stage program for its live auction.
In addition to taking the title-sponsor role, HK Powersports owner Steve Whalley donates a Sea-Doo personal watercraft as the top prize for the event’s raffle.
In short, everyone on the committee has a specific role.
A performance-minded couple, Levitan and Love own a Fountain 38 Lightning sportboat. Though the lake has its own solid go-fast boating community, Levitan said he’d like to see more performance-loving boaters from outside the area experience the event and the lake itself.
Out-of-state go-fast boating enthusiasts Michael Landis (left) and his host Shane Mahieu participated in the 2025 event.
“Lake Winnipesaukee is a great place to have a poker run,” he explained. “We are trying to attract more performance-boat owners to this event as they are a generous group, and that will help us raise more money for Easterseals.
“I think we raised $7,000 in our first year, he added, then chuckled. “Now, we’re raise $150,000 to $200,000 a year. We are now past $2.5 million total. I feel very lucky in that we have enjoyed great assistance from the local community as well as people from all over New England.”
Love perfectly summed up the motivation the planning group.
“We’ve been doing this event for 25 years and some of the kids here then couldn’t walk or speak,” she said. “Now, we see them as adults and they can do both. It is amazing what Easterseals can do.”