Scene 1: The BidOn a cold, snow-laden day in January, 2010, four guys from Newaygo, MI present a bid to hold the United States Canoe Association’s National Canoe & Kayak Championships on the Mus-kegon River from Croton Dam Pond to Newaygo in Michigan.The conference room in the Hilton, Oakbrook Terrace, some 20 miles southwest of O’Hare Airport, in Il-linois, is packed with USCA delegates and members from all over – from Florida to Washington State.Newaygo has never held a USCA Nationals – a six day series of events ranging from sprints to orienteering to the (unofficial) biathlon and three days of marathon racing. But for five years now, Martin Ecker has run the Power Paddle, an event which has become a popular fixture on the Michigan racing circuit. Ecker’s race is sponsored by Powers Outdoors, a multi-generational family-owned business that started as a haberdashery in 1941 and morphed into a successful outdoor, paddling-fo-cused business in the 1980s and ’90s.The four guys from Newaygo are

no accidental committee! The team has been carefully orchestrated to make sure that it contains the right people: the city representative in Scott Faulkner, the State representative in Dave Lorenz, the race expert in Martin Ecker, and the host in Powers Outdoors represented by Brett Pow-ers. Not present at the bid is Gabriel Slominski of Powers Outdoors, instru-mental in putting this group together.

The four are up against a team from Warren, PA which has held successful Nationals on the Allegheny River in 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2009 (causing Jim Decker of the Warren Chamber to quip, “It’s an odd year; it must be time for the USCA.”) Warren knows how to mount a Nationals. Its commu-nity has volunteers well versed in the routines, and Warren is fully expecting an easy nod through.

Warren is in for a surprise.

The multi-media presentation of Newaygo and the Muskegon River, the facilities and support that Newaygo promises, the enthusiasm that the four Newaygans convey, blows the del-egates away. Newaygo wins the bid.

USCA Nationals in Newaygo, MI Set to Raise the Barby Gareth Stevens

Big USCA/Newaygo News Item #1: Prize MoneyMajor prize monies for USCA C1, C2 (3x27) and ICF Kayak. Equal awards, men & women.Payouts as follows: C2 Men Open1st: $1000; 2nd: $500; 3rd: $250 4th-10th - full race fee refund.

C2 Women Open1st: $1000; 2nd: $500; 3rd: $250 4th-10th - full race fee refund.

C2 Mixed Open1st: $1000; 2nd: $500; 3rd: $250 4th-10th - full race fee refund.

C1 Man Open1st: $500; 2nd: $250; 3rd: $125 4th-10th - full race fee refund.

C1 Woman Open1st: $500; 2nd: $250; 3rd: $125 4th-10th - full race fee refund.

ICF K1 Man Open1st: $500; 2nd: $250; 3rd: $125 4th-10th - full race fee refund.

ICF K1 Woman Open1st: $500; 2nd: $250; 3rd: $125 4th-10th - full race fee refund.

Top photos © 2010 by Gabriel S Slominski (www.PowersOutdoors.com). Photo on right © 2010 by Vadim Lischuk.

Main photo and inset: Lining up for the start of the C2 race, Power Paddle 2010 – on the 2011 USCA Nationals course: a perfect venue for large, exciting starts.

Elite kayakers Austin Schwinn – running – and Matt Streib – taking out – at the Potato Rapids Dam portage, Peshtigo, 2010. Expect to see the best, again, in Newaygo: August 9-14, 2011.

In its 43 year history, the United States Canoe Association has, since its inau-gural race on July 6, 1968 on the South Fork, Cumberland River in Oneida, TN, had bigger and smaller National Championships.In the last decade, the biggest Nation-als was in New Hampshire.

Big USCA/Newaygo News Item #2: Major Sponsorship —BigBenefitsDeftly leveraging the opportunity to host USCA’s Nationals, Newaygo has raised in excess of $35,000 in cash and in-kind for ... • Media promotion and coverage to publicize USCA and the event. • Prize money to boost attendance and attract elite athletes.... and another $30,000+ for infra-structure and other projects that will serve not only this year’s USCA Nationals, but Muskegon River-cen-tered community events of all kinds for years to come, including ... • Permanent signs at all city en-trances and street banner cables. • Finish line upgrades at Henning Park, including PA systems for finish line announcements. • A city-wide wi-fi project (sparked by USCA’s request for race area wi-fi as in Peshtigo, WI in 2010). • Boat launch upgrades. • “Riverstock” – the launch of an annual music and food festival, to occur every year on the second weekend in August.

• Two afternoons/evenings with live music & beer tent. • Combination of “green” themes & river stewardship, and reflections of Woodstock.

Top photo © 2010 by Google, Inc; lower photo © 2010 by Gabriel S Slominski (www.PowersOutdoors.com).

Power Paddle 2010 – on the 2011 USCA Nationals course: the C1 event, at the base of the Croton Dam portage.

The finish line area of the 2011 USCA Nationals course with camping areas, race headquarters, and finish line.

The Hanover Nationals were memo-rable for, among other things, a great PA system and Peter Heed’s full tilt, breathless race commentating, bringing a level of excitement to the spectators, not all of whom could see clearly what was happening on the river. They were also memorable for the more than 500 paddlers who participated. Team Newaygo has set out to bury that record.

Scene 2: UpdateFast forward a year, to a cold, snow-laden day in January, 2011. Scott Faulkner gets ready to present a prog-ress report to the USCA’s Annual Meet-ing in a jammed conference room at the Airport Holiday Inn, in Charlotte, NC.But wait, let’s first back up a little, to

Big USCA/Newaygo News Item #3: Kids – All Week, $5Flat Race Fee for Youth $5, Total.Youth get to race all week long for a flat $5 total race fee: Adult/Youth Sprints, Orienteering, the “fun, unof-ficial” Biathlon Championship, Youth Sprints (up to 5 races), plus three Mar-athon days – all for $5. Awesome!

Big USCA/Newaygo News Item #4: Free Spaghetti!Free Friday Night Spaghetti Dinner.USCA’s traditional Friday night spa-ghetti dinner – compliments of Coles Quality Foods, well-known national producer of garlic bread. (Coles will also provide the Racer Packets).

Top photo © 2010 by Google, Inc; lower photo © 2010 by Gabriel S Slominski (www.PowersOutdoors.com).

Photos copyright © 2010 by Robert Brumm (Shoot-To-Thrill Photography) – www.shoottothrillphoto.net

Anna Tompkins, kayak, and Jackie Stone, canoe, in Junior sprints, Peshtigo, 2010.

Dallas Johnson, in Bantam canoe sprints, Peshtigo, 2010.

Nick McGrory & Isaak Ridge, followed by Alex Iacampo (hidden) & Nathan White, C2 Junior sprints, Peshtigo, 2010.

June 12-13, 2010: the 6th Power Paddle, where Martin Ecker is get-ting a record turnout: more than a hundred paddlers have turned up. True to Michigan tradition, and argu-ably a puzzle piece in the picture of Michigan’s vibrant paddling scene, there is prize money. $3500 of it.

Now, Team Newaygo had given no hint of prize money ... a con-troversial subject in some of the traditional die-hard amateur quarters of the USCA ... but it had not escaped notice that the biggest Nationals of the decade, in Hanover, NH, had featured prize money – not the only factor that contributed to its success, but undoubt-edly a factor.

In Hanover, in 2002, prize money was 5-deep in C1 Man Open, 5-deep in C1

Man Master, 5-deep in C1 Man Senior, 3-deep in C1 Woman Open, and 2-deep in C1 Woman Master. No C2 or K.

A total of 162 C1s lined up for the starts! Hmm.

Fast forward again to North Carolina, specifically after lunch on Saturday, January 15, 2011, to Scott Faulkner, now ready with his Powerpoint presentation.

It is masterful!Screen by screen, Faulkner reels off milestone after milestone, accom-plishment after accomplishment, in the preparation for USCA’s 2011 Nationals. Technology resources are in place – new race infrastructure is ready – safety team & emergency planning, � check – $19,350 raised for city event hosting infrastruc-ture, $9,500 for race launch site upgrades – $5000 grants from each of ChoiceOne Bank and Spectrum Health to subsidize lowered fees for youth and provide other great benefits – $44,850 raised from other businesses – the spaghetti dinner sponsored by Coles – a $15,000 donation for media coverage – the new “Riverstock” festival – the promise of lowered race fees based on additional funding success. The list goes on.And then there’s the announcement of prize monies for USCA C1, C2 3x27, and K1-ICF classes! And that the prizes will be equal for women and men.At this point, I witness something I have never seen at a USCA Annual Meeting. The President, Janet Perry, has for nearly a decade chaired the

Women’s Interests Committee and one of her missions has been to pro-mote equal prizes for women. She interrupts the speaker, walks over to him, gives him a big hug, and says a heartfelt “Thank you!” I wish I’d had my camera.Look to all the sidebars that punctu-ate this article for more details of the big news items for the 2011 USCA National Championships (and we may soon, I hear, be calling this year’s event the ChoiceOne Bank Spectrum Health USCA National Canoe & Kayak Championships).

Scene 3: NewaygoFast forward now to August 2011. Been to the USCA Nationals before? If so, you know the events to expect. The 2011 registration form will be posted by mid March. You can get an idea of what is on offer now by look-ing at last year’s form at http://tiny.cc/vl54i and noting these differences:

(a) The USCA C1 and C2 (3x27) classes have been reorganized: see the sidebar to the left.

(b) SUP Unlimited Sprints and SUP Stock Marathon (each with divisions for men and women) will

Big USCA/Newaygo News Item #5: Greater Depth of Canoe Competition for True National ChampionshipsOpen Class National Champion-ships for C2 Men, C2 Women, C2 Mixed, C1 Man, C1 WomanIn a pivotal decision at its Annual Meeting in Charlotte, NC, January 14, 2011 and reversing a trend to an ever greater number of smaller and smaller classes, with “National Champions by the score” – USCA has restored prestige to the concept of a “USCA National Champion” for canoe classes. Starting with the Newaygo Nationals, there will only be one National Champion paddler/team for USCA C1 and C2 (3x27) racing specs, for each gender class and the mixed C2 class. All ages will start together (unless sheer numbers require heats). Rec-ognition will be given to “age group” champions according to actual age – another break from past practice where paddlers could choose to “race down” an age group, if they wished.Plans are being drawn up for a similar step forward for the kayak classes.

Photo © 2010 by Gareth Stevens

In a tight finish, Calvin Hassel (46) edges out Serge Corbin (53) in a spectator-thrilling culmination to the 2010 USCA C1 Man National Championship in Peshtigo, WI. Andy Triebold (34) – off camera – came third. The level of competition high, and intense.

And the kayaker is Sonja Gilman (50), winning the K1 Unlimited Woman Open Championship.

Big USCA/Newaygo News Item #6: Great race courses!Superlative race courses - and the opportunity to check them out at the “Pre-Nationals” – the 7th An-nual Power Paddle on June 18-19 hosted by Powers Outdoors ...Sprints take place on Croton Dam Pond. Electric power has been in-stalled for the boat dock/shelter (timing location). Picnic tables & other seating will be set up and food vendors will be there all week including breakfast time on the three marathon days. A regular shuttle service to/from Croton will be on hand, and possibly a shuttle service to/from Newaygo (10-15 mins west).Marathons start on Croton Dam Pond, with a 4-mile tour of the islands before racers return to the dam to portage to the Muskegon River, then paddle 12-13 miles through a scenic mix of resi-dential and state land, along high sand banks and wooded forest to the Ne-waygo finish line. The all-downstream course has current (typically 3 mph) and clean, clear water, mostly flat but with some Class 1 riffle, and a mix of deep (3-4 feet) and shallow stretches: a great river reading challenge!

Satellite maps © 2010 by Google, Inc

Above: the marathon race course from Croton Dam Pond to Newaygo.Below: Croton Dam Pond, site of the sprint events and of the marathon starts.

Big USCA/Newaygo News Item #7: Yet more events!Amateur and non-sanctioned pad-dling events throughout the week!A GREAT CHANCE for area residents, spectators, and visiting non-Nationals-racers to get kids and family involved during the Newaygo Nationals! Costume Paddle! Relay Race! “Dam-Down” Race! SUP Race! and more...

each be official Trial Events – mean-ing that if there are seven or more participants, they become a National Championship the following year.

Never been to the USCA Nationals? Here’s an overview:Tuesday: • Adult & Adult/Youth Sprints (500m) (C1, C2, and K events, many age group divisions) • National ParaCanoe Sprint Cham-pionships for Paddlers with Physical Disabilities (500m) – ParaKayak and ParaVa’a (outrigger) – solo eventsWednesday: • Canoe & Kayak Orienteering (3 hrs) • Run Paddle Biathlon Championships (3k run, 3k paddle, 100 meter portage)Thursday: • Youth Sprints (250m and 500m) (C1, C2 & K1, many youth age divisions)Friday through Sunday: • Three marathon days, 16-17 mile

race course, with many C1, C2, K1, K2 and SUP classes.

The USCA also hosts the USACK Marathon Nationals, featuring ICF (Olympic-style) kayaks. USACK is the National Olympic Committee for pad-dling in the United States.And as more race and registration details, lodging, and other important information becomes available, it will be posted on the following sites:

www.uscanoe.com

Worldwide Paddling Event Calendar

www.NewaygoNationals.com

www.facebook.com/NewaygoNationals

twitter.com/NewaygoNational

The USCA Nationals in Newaygo, MI is set to be a great event. I recommend it highly. Come for the fun and the competition. Bring the family.USCA is a non-profit 501(c)(3) mem-

bership organization promoting a five star program of Cruising, Conservation, Camping, Camaraderie and Competi-tion for canoers and kayakers.

USCA publishes a quarterly publica-tion, Canoe News and presents two annual national championship events: USCA National Canoe & Kayak Championships, a multi-day event in early August, and a smaller event, the Aluminum Nationals at a variable date. With more than 900 members, USCA promotes paddling as a healthy lifetime sport, and has been a leader in mara-thon paddlesports since 1968.

For more information on USCA, its events or membership please visit the web site at www.uscanoe.com.

Committee chairs may be contacted for additional specific information in their field of activity. For contact details, see www.uscanoe.com/Committees_and_Appointments_W64.cfm.

USCA Nationals 2010Above: C2 Mixed: Marc Gillespie & Holly Reynolds;Left: Connie Cannon (C1), and Sonja Gilman (K1); Right: a K2 Mixed team racing in the K2 Men class: Ellen Roy & Marsh Jones.

Top and left photos © 2010 by Robert Brumm (Shoot-To-Thrill Photography) – www.shoottothrillphoto.net Photo on right © 2010 by David & Linda Williams (WillArts) – www.willarts.com