Congratulations to Hellgate High School senior Darby McAdams and Junior Kaito Roemer who recently qualified to represent the United States at the ICF 2015 Freestyle Kayak World Championships in Canada this summer. Awesome!!

As you can imagine, the travel is going to be expensive for a couple of high school students. GoFundMe pages have been set up for both of them and you can learn more about their amazing accomplishments and journey in an email we received from one of their grandparents. Good local kids doing wonderful things, let's support them!

Darby and Kaito are two of only five kayak competitors chosen to represent the US in the Junior Division in late August at the Championships to be held on the Ottawa River in eastern Canada. (ICF stands for International Canoe Federation). Both teens earned their team spots during the National qualifying Championships in Colorado in mid-June.

 

Both McAdams and Roemer got their start riding on Missoula’s Brennan’s Wave. With early coaching from their parents and advanced coaching with the Zoo Town Surfers youth program, both teens advanced quickly to become top competitors in their age groups. They practice endless hours in the summer, of course, but they also kayak Brennan’s Wave in the colder months of the year, leading to what Kaito calls “without a doubt, the worst brain freezes ever!” Darby and Kaito credit local whitewater talents Jason Shredder and Quinton Barnett for helping them fine tune their freestyle skills. Quinton Barnett accompanied the students to the recent competitions in Aspen and Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

 

“Freestyle kayaking is currently not an Olympic sport, but there are people pushing for it. The sport is really growing. I’m told that Freestyle Kayaking has a good chance of getting included in future Summer Olympics,” says an exuberant Darby McAdams.

 

According to Kaito Roemer, “now our big challenge is to raise the money we’ll need to travel to Ottawa in early August to begin training for the worlds.” There is little to no sponsorship money available for Junior Division competitors so the students will need to raise the money on their own. Both McAdams and Roemer have set up fund raising sites and hope that folks will find it in their hearts to help them realize their dream of competing later this summer. Anyone who would like to help out can make a contribution by visiting these GOFUNDME web sites:

 

 

 

 

For now, when both teens aren’t working their local jobs, you’ll find them training at Brennan’s Wave. And, because they need bigger waves than Missoula can offer, you might also find them at Kootenai Falls just off Hwy 200 between Libby and Troy, MT. Many people will know this frightening whitewater area as the location for the movie “The River Wild” starring Meryl Streep.

More From 96.9 Zoo FM