January 27, 2013
 

Dear Wildwater Racers and Friends:

Four more weeks until the first wildwater race on our calendar - the NRC/NOC Glacier Breaker. This is a good chance for wildwater athletes in the southeast, especially our juniors, to see how much they need to work on their skills before the upcoming Eastern Junior Wildwater Team Trials.

The dates and venues for the Eastern and Western Junior Wildwater Team Trials are set. They are March 23-24 on the Nantahala River in NC and April 20-21 on the Glenwood Canyon section of the Colorado River in Colorado, respectively. Juniors seeking a position on this year's US Junior Wildwater Team are eligible to try out for the team at either or both of the two Junior Team Trials. Those who qualify will have the opportunity to represent the US in the Junior Wildwater World Championships in Lofer, Austria in early July. Lofer is a highly regarded and very scenic venue with a great wildwater river. An informal training camp is also scheduled for March 20-22 on the Nantahala River. Contact Mark Wendolowski (lmsc80@yahoo.com) for details.

The Team Trials to determine the 2013 Senior Wildwater Team that will represent the US in the 2013 Wildwater Sprint World Championships and the 2013 Wildwater World Cup Series was held last September on the Deerfield River. The athletes who are on the team include Emmanuel Beauchard, Elaine Campbell, Marin Millar, Chris Norbury, Hugh Pritchard and Mark Wendolowski. See www.usawildwater.com/athletes.html to learn more about the team members who have already submitted the bios to me.

The USA Wildwater Committee held its first meeting of the year on January 13th. The minutes of the meeting can be found in the appropriate link below. Our proposed budget for this year can be found at www.usawildwater.com/Committee_Minutes/130113-proposed-budget.pdf.

Please note that our current financial position only allows us to cover only some of the categories in the proposed budget.

We need your support to help defray the expenses incurred by our Junior and Senior teams, to provide additional funding for the junior and senior team members who achieve outstanding performance in international events, to defray some of the expenses incurred during the US Wildwater Nationals and to stimulate our local and regional Wildwater programs. You can contribute online via Chipin/Paypal, by using iGive.com when you make an online purchase at almost every retailer, or by sending a check to us. One of the links provides more information about thes options.

Want to make a donation for a specific purpose (like housing or transportation for the junior team at the Junior World Championships)? Contact Jeremy Rodgers and he will assist you with how to do it.

Our 2013 Wildwater calendar is being updated as I receive news about downriver races. Keep watching it for news about the races and training camps in your area. If you know a race that is not on the calendar, please contact me.

Thanks to Denny Adams for the article about the Colorado Spring racing season, and to the organizers of the events in that area.

Chuck Brabec
Editor & Webmaster, USAWildwater.com