October 25, 2010
 

Dear Wildwater Racers and Friends:

The USA Wildwater Committee is pleased to announce the following national events for 2011:

• Eastern Junior Wildwater Team Trials: Awarded to the NOC/NRC in conjunction with the US Open on March 25-26 on the Nantahala River near Bryson City, NC.
• Western Junior Wildwater Team Trials: Awarded to Denny Adams/Great Blue Heron Canoe Club. The dates are April 16-17 on the Colorado River near Glenwood Springs, CO.
• Senior Wildwater Team Trials: Awarded to Jack Ditty. To be held on the Russell Fork River near Elkhorn City, KY. Jack is working with the US Army Corps of Engineers to try to arrange for a special release in August (26-28). If that can't be arranged, the event will be held during the normal scheduled release on the third weekend of October (15-16).
• National Wildwater Championships: Awarded to FIBArk. To be held during FIBArk (June 17-20) on the Arkansas River in Salida, CO.

See the first article in this e-Zine for more information about these events.

The Annual ANIMAL Upper Gauley Race on September 20th included a few names familiar to Wildwater racing. Geoff Calhoun paddled his wildwater K-1 to an overall winning time of 48:15. Chris Hipgrave had a time of 54:02 (7th overall) in a LiquidLogic Stinger K-1 and Jack Ditty finished with a time of 54:30 in his Wildwater C-1 (9th overall). The complete results and more about the race are available in the article in this e-Zine.

The end of the racing season is here (at least according to the USAWildwater calendar). The Preliminary 2010 U.S. Wildater Rankings include the results that I received for the downriver races on our calendar. The link to the rankings in also included in this e-Zine.

Friends of Chuck Lyda finished a wonderful Memorial to Nathan Krissoff, Chuck Lyda and River Runners earlier this month. The Memorial is located at Winfield Park on Reno, Nevada. Check out their fine work at www.usawildwater.com/halloffame/Chuck_memorial.html.

The 2011 Wildwater Calendar (www.usawildwater.com/races/calendar_2011.pdf has been updated to include those events for which I have information. I will continue to update the calendar as I receive more information about other events.

Finally, Steve Ward has sent me word that set up a Facebook group (Durango Downriver) for area paddlers to share news about downriver paddling in the Durango, Colorado area.

Chuck Brabec
Editor & Webmaster, USAWildwater.com