Place: Youghiogheny River; Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania

Cost: Zero, but feel free to make a donation to USAWildwater.

The focus of the camp will be on whitewater technique and racing. Athletes should be capable of handling the lower Yough. To find a description of the run see www.americanwhitewater.org. We will be training on the section of the river known as the “Loop” and below. There will be no formal training on the upper section.

Flat-water sprint workouts and video will be held on nearby Cheat Lake and the Monongahela River.

The weather conditions could range from reasonably nice (day time temp. in the 50’s) to frigid (day time temp. in the teens). If conditions are severe the camp will be canceled so make travel plans accordingly. Severe conditions are defined as; Day time temperature below freezing WITH wind causing below zero wind chill, blizzard conditions with significant snow fall of over 1 foot and wind, severe flooding making the river unsafe for training.

What will NOT cause the camp to be canceled is cold weather, some snow, rain, high water or any weather one would normally expect to find in Pennsylvania and West Virginia in November.

Tentative Schedule:

Sunday November 19th - Full runs on the river with partial runs through the “loop”.

Monday November 20th
AM: Full runs on the river. Discussion of time trial course.
PM: Technique work on flat-water with video.
Evening: Video review

Tuesday November 21st
AM: Full run on the river, video on the loop. Full run on the time trial course with the second half timed.
PM: Full run down to time trial course, first half timed.
Evening: View Greg Barton’s video.

Wednesday November 22nd.
AM: Two full runs with 1st and 3rd, 2nd and 4th, quarters timed; video on the loop.
PM: Short sprint workout and video on flat-water.
Evening: View video.

Thursday November 23rd: Off.

Friday November 24th
AM: Warm up run, time trial course for time.
PM: Video on whitewater.
Evening: View video.

Saturday November 25th: To be arranged.

Important Notes

Lodging: Google, hotels ohiopyle pa, and you will find lots of places on Hwy 40 near Ohiopyle. There are Bed and Breakfast places in Ohiopyle. Camping? Ohiopyle State Park is open…cold but open. Some racers live in Morgantown WV and will commute daily from home.

Group meetings and dinners: We will try to organize group meetings for dinner and video review based on where the majority end up staying. Until we know how many attendees there will be and where they will stay we can’t really decide where evening meetings might be.

To successfully videotape a Wildwater run requires volunteers to operate cameras. A lone camera operator can only shoot a minute or so of each boater, so the success we have with video will depend on how many volunteers we can get to stand out in the cold and take pictures.

Please feel free to email me at dritchie@hammerheadkayak.com if you have any questions.

Best regards

Doug Ritchie
Vice Chairman USA Wildwater