Madeline Island resident Michael Murphy takes his rowing very seriously.

Murphy recently rowed his diminutive seventeen-foot boat, the "Mikerowave" from the Bad River area (near Odanah, Wisconsin) to the Duluth, Minnesota lift bridge and back again, to promote public awareness of the need for cardiac health.  The nearly 140-mile round trip took Murphy about nine days.

Murphy works for the National Healthy Heart Project, which is administered through the Indian Health Service and provides health assistance to over thirty Native American tribes across the United States.  Murphy also works at the Ashland County Memorial Medical Center in the hospital's emergency room walk-in clinic.

Murphy is a staunch advocate of rowing as an excellent form of cardiac exercise.  He counsels members of the Bad River tribe on measures aimed at preventing diabetes, stroke and heart attack.