Presentation set Wednesday at GC
For the Cumberland Times-News
Mon Sep 20, 2010, 07:52 AM EDT
— CUMBERLAND — Garrett County native, renowned athlete, extreme kayaker and adventurer Jesse Shimrock will present his epoch “Summit2Sea” journey that took him from North America’s highest peak, Denali, also known as Mount McKinley, to the ocean.
The presentation will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Garrett College Auditorium and is the opening program for the Fall 2010 Garrett College Adventuresports Institute Colloquium series.
Sponsored by Eddie Bauer/ Whittaker Mountaineering, a manufacturer and supplier of outdoor adventure gear, the following appears on its FIRSTASCENT website, “Jesse Shimrock has set out to be the first person to climb the highest mountain in North America (Mount McKinley) and kayak the rivers that the mountain births, from its highest navigable source, all the way to the ocean, in one continuous push.”
According to Shimrock, “In February (2010) I developed the ‘Summit2Sea’ proposal, and when I received the phone call accepting my proposal my exhilaration went through the roof as you can imagine.”
Shimrock, who is no stranger to challenges, as he is among Garrett County’s most acclaimed athletes, holding a 1998 wrestling state championship, wrestling for Northern Garrett High School, has competed in numerous extreme kayaking competitions over the past 10 years. At age 19, he became a professional extreme kayaker, representing and competing for WAVESPORT Kayaks.
Within two years, Shimrock had risen to the top of the professional ranks. A personal goal was realized in 2001 when, in Durango Colo., he reached the final three in freestyle kayak competition, going head-to-head against two on this nation’s best kayakers, Andy Reddingfield and Eric Jackson. In the final results, Shimrock had doubled Reddingfield’s score and tripled Jackson’s. In that same year, he took a bronze medal in the North American Championships and qualified for the US Freestyle National Kayak Team.
Graduating with a degree in marketing from West Virginia University, Shimrock worked as a marketing manager for both Phenix Technologies and later for the Adventure Sports Center International. But the desire to return to his passion for challenge, both mentally and physically, led him back to paddle sports. In 2008, he became the head coach of the World Class Kayak Academy, an organization that operates worldwide. This opportunity took Shimrock to China and Tibet.
For more information about the Shimrock presentation, contact the Garrett College Adventuresports Institute at 301-387-3330 or adventuresports@garrettcollege.edu
