Three Colorado adventure racing teams finished in the top 10 at this month’s Raid World Championship in Quebec. Team Nike-Powerblast cemented its title as the best adventure racing team ever with another victory. The Colorado-based team won this year’s PrimalQuest outside Moab, Sweden’s Adventure Racing World Championships and Quebec’s Raid. The Nike team, which includes Vail’s Mike Kloser and Glenwood Springs’ Sari Anderson, finished the 1,000-kilometer, five-sport, 20-stage race in 127 hours, 51 minutes. Boulder’s Team Spyder, led by endurance racer Dave Mackey and buttressed with Travis Macy, John Jacoby and Narelle Ash, finished fifth at 133 hours, 29 minutes. Gunnison County’s Team Salomon Crested Butte – Bryan Wickenhauser, Eric Sullivan, Jon Brown and Jari Kirkland – finished eighth in 141 hours, 44 minutes. The Colorado teams were the only American-led groups among the 26 international adventure racing teams in the 2006 Raid.
KAYAKING: Jackson rules World Cup
Freestyle kayaking continued its march toward inclusion in the Olympics this month with the inaugural three-event World Cup, an annual requirement along with a biennial world championship for Olympic status. The first freestyle World Cup went down over three weeks at three of North America’s beefiest play waves on the Ottawa River in Ontario, New York’s Black River and Tennessee’s New Caney River. After three weeks of competition, paddling patriarch and kayak-maker Eric Jackson emerged victorious with 215 points and a slew of top finishes from his Jackson Kayak team. Jackson Kayak paddler Stephen Wright took second with 210 points, and Jackson Kayak veteran and boat designer Clay Wright – no relation to Stephen – was third with 205 points. Among the women, Australian Tanya Faux took first with 285 points, followed by paddling scion Emily Jackson and another Jackson Kayak team paddler, Ruth Gordon. Visit www.wcfkc.com for the scenes behind the scores.
OUTDOOR EDUCATION: Reaching urban kids
Colorado ski industry officials and metro Denver school representatives will stage a march and “teach in” Oct. 6 at Denver’s REI store to highlight the importance of a mountain experience for Colorado’s urban kids. Sponsored by Denver-based Alpino, the event also hopes to encourage ski resorts and ski industry leaders to recognize the business value in attracting minority youth to their slopes. For more information, www.alpino.org.
(COMPILED BY STAFF WRITER JASON BLEVINS)
