Siblings' Journey to the World Championships
Donation protected
Edited: Thank you to all for the generous donations. Nottingham Worlds was a remarkable experience, both in the water and out of the water. Mason finished in the top 10 for his first Senior Men's World Championships and Makinley Kate finished with a Bronze in her first ever World Championships, also being the youngest competitor. She was thankful to have Mason by her side, as a big brother and coach. Not only did Makinley Kate walk away with a medal, she also broke a world record in Semi-Finals. On her last ride, she scored a 746, which is the highest scoring ride by a Junior Woman during an ICF Worlds Event. Please see our newest Go Fund Me for the 2025 World Championships, happening in June of this year in Germany. We have a three sibling squad this year, as Mary Claire debuts on the world stage. You can donate here on our NEW GO FUND ME LINK
MASON and MAKINLEY KATE HARGROVE are two siblings making their way to represent the USA at the 2022 ICF Canoe Freestyle World Championships in Nottingham, England-UK.
- WHAT IS THE CANOE FREESTYLE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS? In summary, it is the extreme sport of Freestyle Whitewater Kayaking's Olympic Games.
- WHAT IS FREESTYLE? It is gymnastics in a short kayak, inside a whitewater feature. The two will have 45 seconds to throw as many tricks in the feature called Twin Hole, as they can. Each trick counts as a predetermined amount of points, with bonuses given for huge air, linked and clean tricks. Both will compete in a prelim round and then if their scores are within the set parameters they will go onto semis and then finals.
- WHY DO WE NEED MONEY? Did you know that our USA Freestyle Kayaking Team is 100% self funded, including purchasing matching team uniforms, competition fees, judges fees, lodging, ground and air transportation, food, training time and water fees, cover tests, boat storage, and more.
- WHAT WE NEED? We are asking for any support with the underwriting of any of the expenses, in helping Mason and Makinley Kate represent the USA in the 2022 ICF Freestyle World Championships, in Nottingham, England-UK. Cheering on the kids is another way you can encourage them and show your support. You can watch the livestream of this event and cheer alongside our family. We will be posting links in our social media accounts as the June event gets closer. Social Media links are listed at the very bottom.
ALL THE INFORMATION:
In 2019, Mason Hargrove took home the GOLD for the United States, in the ICF Canoe Freestyle Junior Men’s World Championships, and is the current Junior Men’s World Champion title holder.
This is the top level for Freestyle Kayaking, and Freestyle Kayaking’s equivalent to the Olympics. He proudly represented RushSouth Whitewater Park and the cities of Columbus, Georgia and Phenix City, Alabama.
After the worldwide disruption of the pandemic, and waiting over a year for a decision, the upcoming 2021 World Championships will now happen in Nottingham, UK, for June 28 – July 2 in 2022. Although he will not get the chance to attempt back-to-back Junior Division Championship titles, due to the pandemic pushing the event back a year, Mason will still have another opportunity to represent the USA.
In March, our family traveled to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma for Mason and our oldest daughter, Makinley Kate, to compete in the USA Team Trials.
In addition to the training already completed on and off the water, Makinley Kate spent a week training in the competition hole feature, in OKC, for one of the three Junior Women’s spots. Mason also spent a week training, preparing to show, even though he is already on Team USA, he deserves that coveted spot.
Both worked hard and showed up with amazing results. Makinley Kate earned second place in both Preliminaries and Finals, earning her spot as the youngest member of
the USA Team. Mason also wowed us, maintaining a second-place finish in Preliminaries, Semi-Finals, and Finals, trailing behind the number one kayaker in the world, Dane Jackson.
Now we have two USA Team Members, chasing their dreams of competing on the World’s Stage, for our family and local areas.
Our USA Team is 100% self funded, including purchasing matching team uniforms, competition fees, judges fees, lodging, ground and air transportation, food, training time and water fees, boat storage fees, covid tests, and more. If you are able to support underwriting any of the expenses, in the effort to achieve their goals of representing the USA in the 2022 ICF Freestyle World Championships, in Nottingham, England-UK, it would be most kindly appreciated.
You can watch the livestream of this event and cheer alongside our family. We will be posting links in our social media accounts as the June event gets near.
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT OUR FAMILY:
Impact is our word for 2022. Altogether our family fo 6, has goals to be impactful, while chasing our individual dreams. We always hope to encourage anyone to get into the water, but LOVE when we get to influence and be a part of helping women and entire family units on the water together. Our family goals of unifying families on the river, as well as providing a sense of community to individual paddlers, will be met through free clinics, events we are a part of, and other teaching opportunities.
2022 Involvement:
- Team River Runner: Free winter pool sessions, mentoring, New Years' Paddle, Veterans Day paddle, river running and camping events, weekly clinics, and more.
- Riverside Clean-Ups
- ThrowDown Thursday: ThrowDown Thursday continues from March until November. This is our weekly, challenge-by-choice event. With goals of growing our river community, with no cost for instruction, new and seasoned kayakers have the choice of perfecting their roll, working on strokes and concepts, ferrying, running rapids, or surfing a feature, with the support of our entire family and other kayakers, who are generous with their time.
- SunDay FunDay: Starts in November and lasts until March and follows the same details as ThrowDown Thursday to allow us to continue paddling with the community on Sunday afternoons.
- Kids Kayaking Camp: Mason and Melissa will create lesson plans for and teach a week-long kayaking camp, catered toward kids from beginners to intermediate, and advanced. Makinley Kate and Mary Claire will both assist, with Mathis keeping the stoke level high for all the kids in attendance. This camp was a huge success in 2021.
- Hosting a weekend paddling trip in Tennessee and North Carolina: We provided not only support, but confidence boosting instruction, river safety, and a sense of community to the multitude of families and individuals that attended.
- August Local Film Festival and Team River Runner multi-day free clinics.
- On Tour: March 13, April 2 – April 24: Our family traveled to Oklahoma, Arkansas, Georgia, North Carolina, West Virgina, Virgina, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire to multiple dealers representing Jackson Kayak, NRS, and RushSouth Whitewater Park, teaching free clinics, assisting with demos, and meeting so many new people from all the different paddling communities.
- Competitions: With each competition, our crew is always, all hands-on-deck, with more than just competing. You will find us volunteering with judging, scribing, time keeping, setting safety, and anything we can do to lend a helping hand.
- Instruction: While our family does provide instructional courses through a Whitewater Express, most of our time is spent volunteering teaching and growing our sport. We are thankful for the community that surrounds our family and want to continue giving back to keep the stoke of being outside and on the river, at high levels.
- Documentary: Our family was ecstatic to be apart of telling some of our story through a documentary at our local paddling scene. Its called 'The Wintering Grounds' and you can Watch the trailer here
Organizer
Melissa Rigdon Hargrove
Organizer
Phenix City, AL