The Richmond Riverrock festival was held this weekend, complete with competitions in every flavor of "extreme"outdoor sport: a mud run, SUP race, bouldering competition, 10K trail run, and kayak big air contest.
There was also a boatercross race, which is a head-to-head race where kayakers circle around a series of buoys placed within a set of rapids. This year was the first time they had a female division, and they were struggling to get the minimum number of participants for the race. So, after some encouraging from my friend Erin Johnson, I signed up. To my surprise, I placed second (behind Emily Jackson) and won $100! Erin came in third, so overall I would say it was a success! (Keep in mind there were only 6 participants, but I still consider it to be a pretty cool experience.) Rich Young took some fantastic photos of the entire festival, which you can view here.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
Cheat Fest 2011
Albright is small town in the northern part of West Virginia, whose main industry is coal mining (I think). According to the 2000 Census, 247 people live in Albright, almost a quarter of whom live below the poverty line. Although I haven't scoped the nightlight myself, I am fairly certain that weekends in Albright are pretty low key. No ritzy night clubs, that's for sure.
Now imagine a parade of several thousand kayakers, arriving in four-wheel drive trucks double-stacked with boats of every color for every occasion. Every once in a while a Subaru will pass by with one of those tiny "under water" boats covered in more glitter than a little girl's dress-up party. All of the boaters congregate in two "campgrounds" (fields) that border the festival grounds, setting up tents in no particular arrangement or order. Add some gear vendors, about 12 hours of bluegrass music, a few barbecue tents, and some beer. Welcome to Cheat Fest.
We're all here for the same reason: whitewater. Albright is centrally located near a lot of it. The Cheat River narrows (III/IV) runs through Albright, but the Big Sandy (V), Youghiogheny, and Tygart rivers are all within reasonable driving distance. I heard that Cheat Fest was originally started 17 years ago to advocate for cleaning up the Cheat, which was heavily polluted by mining runoff. The river's health is greatly improved, so gladly the cleanup efforts have been effective.
John, Ethan, Zander, Zander, and Mike drove up early and paddled the Big Sandy on Friday. Theron, Joe, Gelb, and I arrived as the late crew on Friday night. After powering up with omelettes-in-a-bag for breakfast (genius!) and wrestling with the hardware on the seat of my new Mamba, our crew got suited up for the Cheat. I felt great on the river, and by the end of the run I felt I was starting to feel much more comfortable in my new boat.
At the end of the run, we hauled our boats up the steep muddy (but thankfully short) takeout and got ready to load up and head back in John's car. One minor detail was missing...the key to John's car! Which was tragically left in a shorts pocket at the campsite. This is where the unlucky story starts to turn lucky. While John caught a ride back up to the campsite, we discovered his car doors were unlocked and we could access our warm clothes AND the beer. Very shortly after John found his key, he ran into someone who was going back to the takeout anyway and hitched a ride back to meet us. From then on everything went smoothly and we made it back to the campsite with plenty of time to enjoy the festival. (The only other bummer was that Ethan was sick and went home. We missed you, Ethan!)
At the festival we visited Josh Tracy's Eddyflower tent and watched Gelb hula-hoop with very unique form. I also bought my first piece of original art for $20. Not bad.
On Sunday we ate omelettes for breakfast again (still awesome) and did another lap on the Cheat. It was a perfect sunny day and I had a blast. We rode home Josh's river van and listened to Rage Against the Machine on the portable boom box while John and I shared Tina Fey's new book. What a wonderful weekend!
Tonight the big trucks loaded with boats are gone, the fields are empty, and Albright is returning to its normal routine. We're looking forward to next year!
Now imagine a parade of several thousand kayakers, arriving in four-wheel drive trucks double-stacked with boats of every color for every occasion. Every once in a while a Subaru will pass by with one of those tiny "under water" boats covered in more glitter than a little girl's dress-up party. All of the boaters congregate in two "campgrounds" (fields) that border the festival grounds, setting up tents in no particular arrangement or order. Add some gear vendors, about 12 hours of bluegrass music, a few barbecue tents, and some beer. Welcome to Cheat Fest.
We're all here for the same reason: whitewater. Albright is centrally located near a lot of it. The Cheat River narrows (III/IV) runs through Albright, but the Big Sandy (V), Youghiogheny, and Tygart rivers are all within reasonable driving distance. I heard that Cheat Fest was originally started 17 years ago to advocate for cleaning up the Cheat, which was heavily polluted by mining runoff. The river's health is greatly improved, so gladly the cleanup efforts have been effective.
John, Ethan, Zander, Zander, and Mike drove up early and paddled the Big Sandy on Friday. Theron, Joe, Gelb, and I arrived as the late crew on Friday night. After powering up with omelettes-in-a-bag for breakfast (genius!) and wrestling with the hardware on the seat of my new Mamba, our crew got suited up for the Cheat. I felt great on the river, and by the end of the run I felt I was starting to feel much more comfortable in my new boat.
At the end of the run, we hauled our boats up the steep muddy (but thankfully short) takeout and got ready to load up and head back in John's car. One minor detail was missing...the key to John's car! Which was tragically left in a shorts pocket at the campsite. This is where the unlucky story starts to turn lucky. While John caught a ride back up to the campsite, we discovered his car doors were unlocked and we could access our warm clothes AND the beer. Very shortly after John found his key, he ran into someone who was going back to the takeout anyway and hitched a ride back to meet us. From then on everything went smoothly and we made it back to the campsite with plenty of time to enjoy the festival. (The only other bummer was that Ethan was sick and went home. We missed you, Ethan!)
At the festival we visited Josh Tracy's Eddyflower tent and watched Gelb hula-hoop with very unique form. I also bought my first piece of original art for $20. Not bad.
On Sunday we ate omelettes for breakfast again (still awesome) and did another lap on the Cheat. It was a perfect sunny day and I had a blast. We rode home Josh's river van and listened to Rage Against the Machine on the portable boom box while John and I shared Tina Fey's new book. What a wonderful weekend!
Tonight the big trucks loaded with boats are gone, the fields are empty, and Albright is returning to its normal routine. We're looking forward to next year!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)