For the Cumberland Times-News
Cumberland Times-News The Cumberland Times-News Sat Aug 06, 2011, 11:28 PM EDT
— MCHENRY — Competitors from around the region will participate in the first-ever Maryland Canoe and Kayak State Championships at the Adventure Sports Center International from 4 to 6 p.m. on Saturday.
The center is home of the world’s only mountaintop whitewater course. The championship is part of the 2011 Maryland Canoe and Kayak Series produced by the Bethesda Center of Excellence.
BCE is led by two-time Olympic silver medalist Dana Chladek and will be fielding a team of up-and-coming athletes at the event. The state championships will be a first glimpse of whitewater competition at ASCI since it was awarded the ICF 2014 Canoe Slalom World Championships.
ASCI won out over bids from Austria and Poland at the April meeting of the International Canoe Federation in Paris. Deep Creek 2014, the official title of the championships, is scheduled for Sept.17-21. The event will mark the 25th anniversary of the highly successful 1989 Canoe Slalom World Championships held on Savage River in Garrett County. Canoe slalom refers to decked or covered whitewater boats that race a series of gates strategically placed over rapids. The four official Olympic disciplines include single men and women’s kayak, and single and double canoes.
Maryland has historically fielded the nation’s most successful slalom athletes, including World Champions Jon Lugbill, Davey Hearn, Fritz and Lecky Haller, Cathy Hearn, Dana Chladek and Olympic Gold Medalist Joe Jacobi. Bill Endicott, the most successful canoe coach in U.S. history, is also based in Maryland.
The Maryland State Championships will be the first and only state-level whitewater competition in the county. They will take place on the upper section of the ASCI whitewater course. Each run lasts around 100 seconds, and athletes must navigate 20 gates covering 300 meters of rapids. At least six of the gates require athletes to paddle upstream. Hitting the poles or missing a gate entirely adds penalties to a score.
The score is a racer’s time plus penalties, and the lowest score wins. Spectators can watch from rocks alongside the river or from the grass-sloped amphitheater.
For more information, call 301-387-3250, email asci@adventuresportscenter.com or visit www.adventuresportscenter.com.
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