Midwest Freestyle Championships Whitewater, August 17th and/or 18th

Jim Falls Whitewater, August 17^th and/or 18^th

We are now heading north to the Midwest Freestyle championships located in the beautiful Piers Gorge on the Menominee River!

http://www.wausauwhitewater.org/home.aspx

Find the Midwest Freestyle Page located under the "events" tab

From the site:

We are pleased to say that while we cannot have any events at Wausau this year, we have a brave couple of people willing to put on a substitute event. Announcing the Almost Midwest Freestyle, Badger State Games, and Frank Fest on the scenic Piers Gorge reach of the Menominee River!  The event will be August 17th and 18th.

In conjunction with Kosir’s Rafting, we will head north to Norway, MI for this event on the Menominee River.  The river is the border of Upper Michigan and Wisconsin and is a beautiful class III section of whitewater with several features with a walking path alongside of it.  Camping at Kosir’s nearby Menominee River outpost will give us easy access to the river and a great venue for camping and hanging out with all of your Wausau family and probably some new people you have not yet met.

It should be noted that as a substitute event, it will be different than what is normally put on at the whitewater course.  We will have a 2-day event with our usual freestyle classes, boatercross, duo boatercross, and raft race. Kosir’s will be putting together a great meal for all competitors on Saturday night.  As a part of Badger State Games, we have 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place medals for our podium takers.  As an event put on by paddlers semi-last minute, there are no prizes other than the swelling pride that goes along with the medal.

Since this is last minute, we are asking for a minimum of 40 people to sign up by August 9th to make this official.  Entry fees are $45 plus the ACA $5 event fee for non-ACA members.  As it is being held at a Michigan State Park, there will also be the Michigan State Parks Parking fee of $9 per day.  Carpooling from the rafting parking lot can also save a lot of money on parking.  We will keep people apprised of the countdown to official event status via the Wausau Website and Facebook.  If the event does not go on for some reason, all entry fees will be refunded.  You can sign up on the Wausau Website.  Provided the event does go on, you can sign up onsite, but we will only be accepting cash at that point in time.

Requirements: R3p paddler rating in a kayak (a solid roll is a must)

Cost:

Fuel:  ~$20-25

Registration: $50

Food: I don’t intend to provide any food for this trip. Please plan accordingly. If we camp you may wish to buddy up with someone to plan and cook some camp meals together. Or we may eat out somewhere Saturday night.

Camping: Unkown ($0 if we stay at Hooferland, up to $20 if we camp eslewhere)

Plan:

-Depart Madison Friday August 16th

-Camp at Hooferland Friday night

-Run the Gorge a few times on Saturaday and meet some awesome people along the way. Maybe even compete in a couple events

-Camp out at Hooferland or a UP campground Saturday night

-Huck it down Piers Gorge a few more times on Sunday 

-Return to Madison Sunday August 18^th (after we get our Culver’s fix) around 8 or 9pm

Contact:

Bryan Wathen

bawthen@wisc.edu