The Roaring Fork Valley-based Riff Raff Racing crew will compete within the 2023 National Championships at Royal Gorge. Five members of the crew will head to Bosnia in May for the world championships.
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Last summer season, a bunch of Roaring Fork Valley-based rafters earned the chance to symbolize the United States on the International Rafting Federation World Championships in Bosnia. And with that competitors simply across the nook, the crew wished to remind the neighborhood that they’ve been working exhausting and are able to race.
“The gasoline pedal hasn’t let up in any respect,” crew member Tyler Aikens stated Friday. “We’re excited to know precisely the place we’ll land on that worldwide scale. We’re going to go on the market and provides it every part we have. Yes, definitely. We are excited to symbolize. We couldn’t be extra grateful for all the popularity and assist within the Valley. And we look ahead to seeing how the United States competes internationally in whitewater. We hope to come back again in mid-June with a special perspective on what to do.”
Riff Raft Racing, which calls its crew Riff Raft Racing, will maintain a fundraiser on Monday, March 18th on the new Back Bar, 508 E. Cooper Ave. in Aspen, beginning at 5:30 p.m. It is deliberate to be held. Aikens is looking it a “spring gathering” with the rafting neighborhood, and it’ll embody raffle prizes and updates instantly from the crew. The R4 World Championship is scheduled to be held in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina from May twenty eighth to June 2nd.
Despite being a comparatively new group to racing collectively, Team Riff Raft received the U.S. National Championship in Canon City final June, incomes them an opportunity to compete on the earth championships. .
“We really feel great assist from the native boating neighborhood,” Aikens stated. “We’ve made some actually nice connections in the case of gear. We really feel a whole lot of love from the Valley. All of our buddies are taking part in numerous fundraisers. .”
The five-man crew competing in Bosnia contains Aikens, Conrad Niven, Curtis Berklund, Taylor Norman and Trevor Fredrickson. All of them work as rafting guides for his Blazing Adventures, aside from his Berklund, who works for Elk Mountain Expeditions.
And the crew is not simply right here to race. They have taken it upon themselves to develop into champions of the game right here within the Roaring Fork Valley and are taking steps to assist preserve water.
“All of that aligns with what we try to do at Riff Raft Racing, which is to advertise the game of rafting and defend waterways for the longer term,” Aikens stated. Ta. “We have a really shut relationship with American Whitewater, which is the face of river safety within the United States, and we’re excited to work with them on how we will develop the game of racing.” I began creating that concept.”
The Roaring Fork Valley-based Riff Raft Racing crew will compete within the 2023 National Championships at Royal Gorge. Five members of the crew will head to Bosnia for the World Championships in May. By: RIff Raff Racing
Some of the upcoming occasions that Riff Raft Racing helps promote embody the return of Gore Fest on the Colorado River in August and Slaughterfest, a well-liked native race down the Roaring Fork River. It is scheduled to be held in June relying on the scenario.
Slaughterfest is known as for its riverside spotlight, Slaughterhouse Falls, a Class IV speedy. Team His Riff is the place most of His Raft initially linked, and is an occasion they hope to develop once more.
“We wish to make these races a giant matter once more. We wish to meet individuals from out of state, and in our place as the lads’s open crew, we do not wish to put that label on ourselves to get individuals excited. “We really feel like we have now a fantastic alternative to current this,” Aikens stated. “We wish to make this as aggressive and wide-ranging as potential and produce again that gung-ho power that we had earlier than coronavirus, 10 to fifteen years in the past, when just a few groups had been making an attempt to win championships. I wish to win a nationwide title. I wish to make it to the nationwide match once more.”
He stated the crew can have a number of probabilities to race earlier than heading to Bosnia for the Pagosa Paddle and Upper Clackamas Whitewater Festival in May, which is being deliberate as this 12 months’s U.S. National Championships. . Riff Raft Racing will defend his nationwide title on the Clackamas River in Oregon and hopes to hop on a airplane to Bosnia quickly.
“We’ve been rising as a lot as we will, discovering new sponsors and getting gear donations and going out to coach. Throughout the summer season, we actually saved the water working till it ran dry. ”Aikens stated. “Throughout the winter we have now been following a coaching plan. We put the boat within the pool at Snowmass Rec Center and are rowing there in mid-season type and at our greatest as we head to Bosnia. So that we could be assured that we’re able to do our greatest.”
For extra data or to contact the crew, go to riffraftracing.com or discover us on Instagram @riff.raft.racing.
Note: Aikens is asking the neighborhood to assist her find a package deal of roughly 100 Riff Raft Racing T-shirts she ordered for Monday’s fundraiser that she believes was misdelivered. If somebody receives one, he stated, simply attain out or take it to a fundraiser on the again bar.
acolbert@aspentimes.com