Press Release: April 4th-5th, 2009

The Nantahala River in western North Carolina played host to the 2009 USA Canoe and Kayak Jr National Slalom Team Trials. This was a qualifying event for the World Championships for Canoe/Kayak Slalom for ages 18-under in France this June.

All four Rocky Mountain Canoe/Kayak Club (RMCKC) athletes were hoping to secure one of the six available spots on the US Jr National Team. Athletes from across the United States were present at this high contested event. Aspiring young RMCKC athletes Will Grubb 14, Griff Griffith 17, Tyler Hinton 16, and JP Griffith 15, competed along side the nations top young athletes in the men's kayak class. Tyler Hinton represented the Rocky Mountain Team in the canoe/c1 class.

It was a weekend of highs and lows for all of the athletes. Since Colorado’s whitewater disappears in August, jumping back on whitewater after a  long winter of flatwater training  proved to be a difficult adjustment.

Griff Griffith, a East High School Junior in Denver, who  placed fifth after the first day of competition, was edged out of a spot on the team by .50 seconds on Sunday with a slight error.

Will Grubb, a Boulder High School freshman, who represented the USA and placed 11th in the AustralianYouth Olympic Festival in Sydney Australia this fall, fell short of making the team due to some very costly errors on the first day of competition. This took away from the chance to finish the weekend in the top 6 places.

JP Griffith, a Kent Denver School Freshman, raced hard and showed some new great skills toward reaching his long term goals, but was also unsuccessful in securing a spot on the Jr. Team.

Tyler Hinton, an Alexander Dawson School sophomore in Lafayette, was the sole RMCKC athlete to secure a spot on the US National Canoe/Kayak team with his Silver Medal finish. Tyler was also a member of the 2008 National Team and placed 21st at the Jr Worlds in the Czech Republic last summer. Tyler's finish showed his grace under pressure against one of the other finest men's canoes in the world. In the four races help over the two day period, Tyler and Durango's Zach Lokken exchanged battles as close as .9 seconds off each others finish times. These two Colorado athletes show promise of top International finishes in the Jr World Championships in France this June. Tyler Hinton was recently featured in Sports Illustrated as Faces in the Crowd and on Jookt.com and ESPN Scholastic Sports as a top National athlete. In January, Tyler finished 5th place in the highly contested Australian Youth Olympics where he raced against  top athletes from China, France, New Zealand, Japan, Australia and the UK. Tyler’s goals include shooting for the 2012 Olympics in London.

Despite some disappointment in the overall results, all of the athletes performed extremely well and were able to make huge personal progress in their racing. USA Jr Team Trials marks the start of a long and exciting season of racing for the Denver area athletes, who are excited to continue their training and look forward to another shot at the team next spring.

A big thanks to USA Canoe Coach Cathy Hearn and Coach Nic Borst for leading our athletes closer to their long term goals and their guidance through the event.

Next for the team are the United States Wildwater Team Trials in Glenwood Springs and the US Sr. Team Trials in Durango in May. RMCKC athletes posess world class athletic skill, character, and scholastic achievement within the world of youth sports.

Director- Chris Wiegand

720.205.9092

chris@whitewaterracing.org