Aug. 10th – 14th: Training (ASCI)
Aug. 14th: X-Stream Raft Race (Upper Yough)
Aug. 15th: Sprint and Slalom Events (ASCI)*
Aug. 16th: Down River Event (Lower Yough)*
* USRA National Championship Events
4 person teams @ $100 per boat
Registration fromJune 1st, 2009
www.adventuresportscenter.com
301-387-3250
ASCI River Park
Deep Creek Lake, MD
Youghiogheny River
Ohiopyle, PA

The US WOMEN and MEN finish in the top ten at Worlds!

The Timberline Women’s and Men’s rafting teams training out of Vail Colorado http://web.me.com/dvogeler/USRT/Home.html have again provided incredible representation of the United States Rafting Association (USRA) and the good ‘ole red white and blue. Despite overcoming a variety of adverse circumstances which included a reportedly unfriendly crowd in Bosnia, a non-existent winter race schedule, and having to pay out of pocket to make the trip overseas, our ladies finished 8th, and the men finished 6th. 53 teams from 35 countries were in attendance. The resiliency of the American spirit is ever present in competitive whitewater raft racing. Like the Colonists taking on the British Empire, our US teams doggedly challenged very well funded and even government supported teams with amazing results. Just a few seconds separated the US Men from taking a place on the podium in Bosnia.

See or compete against the Timberline Teams in McHenry Maryland August 14th through the 16th at the USRA National Whitewater Rafting Championships. The highest placing men’s and women’s R4 crews will represent the USA at the R4 World Championships which will be held in the Netherlands in 2010. The Adventure Sports Center International (ASCI) http://www.adventuresportscenter.com/ is currently seeking support for this event and more importantly the teams in attendance. SOTAR has agreed to provide rafts for the competitors yet more support is needed. Please contact Matt Taylor of ASCI for sponsorship details and information.

The Oregon Rafting Team was fortunate in pulling off a first place finish on the East Fork of the Lewis River. Of the 12 R2 teams entered 4 of the boats were manned by ORT crews. The pictures are from Sunset Falls which was a mere 100 meters downstream from the starting area.

The next race in the Western Whitewater Championship Series is this weekend, April 18th and 19th on the Upper Klamath River. Check out ORT’s Events page for details:
oregonraftingteam.com

This is part of the Western Whitewater Championship Series (WWCS).
The pic is from last weekend’s practice run, ORT dropped three rafts at once!
The 3rd is lookers right, not captured in the photo.

The WWCS continues April 18th and 19th with a race on the Upper Klamath.
Check out the ORT site for details:
http://www.oregonraftingteam.com/

2011 IRF World Rafting Champs

The 2011 IRF World Rafting Champs is to be an R6 (six-man raft) event. And the calls over the last few years have been to get back to really big water in remote areas which is what the original Project Raft and Camel White Water Challenge were about. As these were the birthing places of today’s World Rafting Champs the IRF Sport & Competition Committee heeded this call when assessing the bids that came in. This Committee is made up of 13 experienced rafters and event organisers who are selected every two years by the members of the IRF.

Once again the bids were of a high quality which is very encouraging for the growth of the sport. Italy’s bid was for the Noce River in the Val di Sole/Trentino region, Costa Rica’s bid was for the General River in the San Isidro del General area and Slovenia’s bid was for the Soča River near Bovec.

The final decision went in favour of Costa Rica and the General River.

The location of the WRC on the artificial course in Zoetermeer, Netherlands in 2010, and the 2011 location of the Rio General in Costa Rica encapsulates the two extremes of where rafting is heading at the moment – the easy to access, control and setup locations of the smaller volume rivers which are often ideal for the R4 (four-man rafts) and the less accessible, harder to control and setup locations of the big volume rivers which are often more suitable for R6 events. The latter locations are also often on rivers that are more remote giving a heightened sense of adventure to the event.

The IRF thanks Italy and Slovenia for their bids and their commitment to rafting in general.

— IRF BOD

The 2nd Annual Wind River Festival in Stabler Washington provided the setting for a number of great memories as 51 participants enjoyed the rugged Class IV+ whitewater of the Wind River Canyon.

Next up in the Western Whitewater Championship Series (WWCS) is the EF Lewis Race April 11th followed up by some big water action on the Upper Klamath April 18th and 19th.
Check out the details at:
http://www.northwestcreekcomp.org/
http://www.oregonraftingteam.com/

Upper Wind Festival 2009
Results
Kayak 8.6+
NAME-PLACE-TIME-2009 WWCS POINTS
Joe Stumpfel- 1- 21 : 24- 5 : (2008, 2009 Wind Long Boat Champion )

Kayak 8.6-
Greg Mallory- 1- 23 : 40- 5 : (2008, 2009 Wind Short Boat Champion)
Dave Hoffman- 2- 24 : 22- 4
Laurence Rosen- 3- 24 : 24- 3
Luke Spencer- 4- 24 : 25
Christie Glissmeyer- 5(1st Women)-24 : 26-
5 : (2008, 2009 Wind Women’s Champion, 2008 WWCS Women’s Champion)
Bryon Dorr- 6- 24 : 28
Jason Schroeder-7- 25 : 05
Jed Hawes- 8- 25 : 12
Kate Wagner- 9- (2nd Women) 25 : 14- 4
Kenny Kiley- 10- 25 : 32
Jesse Becker- 11- 26 : 08
Chuck Taylor- 12- 26 : 37
Chris Baer- 13- 26 : 49
Ben McKenzie- 14- (1st under 18)31 : 36- 5
Rob McKenzie- 15- (2nd under 18)31 : 37- 4
Ty Overeem- 16- 45 : 05

Cataraft
Zach Collier- 1- 27 : 04- 5 : (2008 WWCS Champion)
Dave Hagmeier- 2- 28 : 02- 4 : (2008 Wind Champion)
John Meier- 3- 32 : 56- 3
Val Shaull- 4- 32 : 58
Brent Davis- 5- 33 : 32
Dave Allen- 6- 33 : 47
Morgan Langbehn- 7- 46 : 20
Bob Hunt- 8- 46 : 46

Raft
ORT Red- 1- 27 : 30- 5 : (2008, 2009 Wind Champions, 2008 WWCS Champions)
ORT Grey- 2- 28 : 52- 4
Wind Virgins- 3- 41 : 15- 3

Green Team- 1- 29 : 48
Top Drop Rafting- 2- 30 : 34

Total event paddling/rowing participants = 51!

BIG THANKS to-
Next Adventure for over $300 in gift certificates to the winning kayakers! AND the free barbeque.

Andy n Bax for $100 in gift certificates and goodies to the top 3 cat boaters!

Sundance River Trips for the free keg of Double Mountian beer!

The River Connection for providing $10 gift certificates to each entrant!

Hope to see you all on the Upper Klamath in April, check our events page for details:)

Upper Wind River (Festival)
at Carson, WA
Starts on March 21, 2009
Ends on March 22, 2009
All Day Event

SATURDAY March 21st
9:30am meet at the cabin near the bridge over the Wind at Stabler, Washington to prep for the morning practice run.
10:30am shove off for 1st practice run.

12:30pm arrive at the High Bridge take out. Quick load and shuttle back up to the cabin for lunch and prep for the 2nd practice run.

2:30pm shove off for 2nd practice run.
4:15pm quick load and shuttle back up for Saturday evenings festivities at the cabin, bring a lawn chair or tarp if its raining.

5pm barbeque, beverages, music, silent auction…

SUNDAY March 22nd
9:30am registration begins.
10:45am registration ends.

10:45 boaters meeting.
11:15 floaters depart to set up safety, take pictures, shoot footy. We will coordinate where these folks will be stationed at the boaters meeting.

3 Mile Downriver Race
12- HIGH NOON : Mass start kayak, all boats 9 feet or less. Lets just call this a creek boat race but if you wanna throw down in a playboat go for it. If enough folks show up with a playboat and wish to create a class we will.

12:05 Mass start R4 raft (R2 if levels are low, below 4.6, will be determined that morning).
https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/wrx/wrx/flows/station.asp?sta=29C100

12:10 Mass start catarafts. (4.75 is the low water cutoff, 8 feet is the high water cutoff, but if you wanna race regardless we wont stop ya!)

12:15 Mass start whatever is left.

1:45 Arrive High Bridge take out for quick load and shuttle back up to the cabin for race results and awards.

3pm Awards and chillin at the cabin. Not sure if we will have food or beverages on this day so please bring your own.

• All boaters that have developed a Class IV+ skill level are encouraged to attend. You don’t need to be a racer to participate.

• Parking is limited- carpool. At the take out please leave your vehicle at the top of the dirt road. It really is just a short walk or jog up there and this will keep everyone happy.

• At the put in please park your vehicle on the shoulder of the main road and leave the driveway at the cabin clear as provides drive through turnaround access. (No backing up the paved road by the cabin).

• $15 covers shuttles for both days, Saturday night barbeque and stuff, ACA insurance, sweet prizes, misc. event costs.

Kayak class rules:
- the format for the kayak races is a down river mass start.
- we will have a long boat class which is over 8’6″ and a short boat class of under 8″6″.
- the long boat class is limited to whitewater boats only (for safety reasons).
- no malicious intent to harm another paddler this will lead to disqualification. (should still be fun anyway:)

Ken from Whitewater Designs out of Eugene Oregon has been making high quality river and safety gear for years. All materials are bought and produced from suppliers in the United States. Ken has also been an active supporter of river communities as evidenced by providing prizes at each of the events during the course of the 2008 Western Whitewater Championship Series. Ken has been running rivers longer than most of us are old and actively researches better and more innovative products each year. See his work at: http://www.whitewaterdesigns.com/

On January 19, 2009 the United States Rafting Association (USRA) Board voted unanimously to make this years National Championship event an R4 race. The International Rafting Federation (IRF) has recently moved to an alternating R6 (2009 Bosnia), R4 (2010 Netherlands) format, thus the USRA shall follow suit by making this years Nationals a qualifier for the Netherlands. The downriver discipline will be on the Youghioghney River, while the Sprint and Slalom disciplines will take place at the Adventure Sports Center International (ASCI) whitewater park located in McHenry, Maryland. Friday, August 14th an R4 exhibition race will take place on the Upper Youghiogheny. Points will not be awarded towards the selection of our national teams from that event. Saturday, August 15th selection points will be awarded to competitors as they race in the sprint and slalom disciplines on the ASCI whitewater course. Sunday, August 16th a downriver course of approximately 4 miles in length will be set on the Lower Youghiogheny, the point scale will be weighted heavier in regard to that discipline. In parallel to the wonderful venues in Maryland, the 2009 USRA National Championships represent a dynamic and progressively changing time in the sport of whitewater raft racing. Please visit the USRA site in the future for details and updates usaraftassociation.com

Due to the need for timeliness in making a decision on the location for this year’s event, the USRA elected to forego a public bid application process for the next two years only.

A public bid application process will go into effect when selecting the 2010, and 2011 venues, just as soon as the USRA amends and approves the bylaws in this area. The USRA has decided that the 2009 event will be hosted in Maryland. The USRA made an internal decision for the next two nationals events so that event coordinators, organizers, and sponsors could effectively and thoroughly promote and manage the event in a comprehensive manner.
The board intends to have a communicative Web site up shortly. Questions, suggestions, volunteers, interested sponsors, etc, will be able to communicate through that site once it is online. In the interim, the USRA asks that all interested persons get the word out and attend the PBR Idaho Nationals event.

Six-person paddle raft teams, men’s and women’s, will compete in sprint, slalom, and downriver races to determine who will represent the USA at the World Championships which will be held in Bosnia in May of 2009. Please refer to the IRF website for more specific rules regarding paddle raft competition.
Additionally, PBR event coordinators have indicated that they will include a cataraft division for their event. There will also be a variety of kayaking events at the PBR. Those events do not fall under the USRA umbrella at this time.
This is an exciting time in the world of whitewater paddling and it’s supportive communities. The USRA humbly asks that all are patient with as they develop our infrastructure and we certainly welcome all forms of positive energy and support.