USA Men's Rafting Team going to World Rafting Championship

Heyo, Riff Raft Racing here. We won the USRA National Championship in Cañon City, Colorado in 2023, making us the USA Men’s Open Rafting Team. Here's a writeup from a local newspaper about us: Post Independent Article. In 2024 we defended our title at the National Rafting Championship on the Clackamas River in Oregon. Now this isn't an Olympic sport, yet, but it qualifies us to represent the United States at the highest level of whitewater raft racing. After the cancellation of the Great Karnali Quest in Nepal due to the earthquake we set our sights on the 2024 IRF World Rafting Championship in Bosnia-Herzegovina. We placed 10th overall there, a result we're pretty proud of.

We’re scheduled to race in a bunch of events this year stateside, so we'll follow the snowmelt and paddle the circuit. The National Championship is scheduled for September 12-14th on the Trinity River in California, where we hope to three-peat. We'll be representing you and our country again at the World Rafting Championship in Bariloche, Aregentina November 4-9th.

In addition to racing ourselves, we've also been handed the reins to a couple of historic whitewater races in Colorado. In 2024 we took over operations of the Slaughterhouse Race on the Roraring Fork River in Aspen, CO, as well as the legendary Gore Canyon Race on the Colorado River near Kremmling, CO. We don't make a nickel on either of these but saw it as a way to help carry on a legacy and give back to the community that has supported us in so many ways. We'll be running these again for 2024. Slaughterhouse race will be June 22nd and Gore Canyon Festival will be August 22-24th.

In addition to the races, we're mixing our model and turning Riff Raft Racing into more of a paddle club, drawing inspiration from some of the paddle powerhouse countries in the world. We'll open things up to anyone who wants to train and paddle with us. For the last two years we've hosted paddle camps as well with an internationally renowned coach and paddler. From the most dedicated club members, and a larger pool of talent, we'll field teams to represent Riff Raft Racing and the USA at different races.

This fundraiser has kind of morphed as we've rolled with the punches. We are in the process of fundraising with a goal of raising $25,000. This will go directly to ground travel to races in the states, flights to the World Championship, training, travel costs, race entry fees, and gear for the club. If you have a business that would be interested in sponsoring us in a larger way, please message us through Instagram.

I know this is a huge ask, and frankly, we're not usually the type to go around asking. The only reason we've gotten as far as we have is from the tremendous support from our community, that's you. If you'd like to support Team USA, we would gratefully and humbly accept your donations. Reach out if you want to paddle with us, and follow along on Instagram too! We can't thank you enough, and are excited to see where this wild ride takes us!

Thanks again,