Greetings again everybody.  Though I am still 3000 miles from home, and the poison ivy patch is quietly muscling its way up my left leg, our 2008 US National Championships have now come and gone.

I have dropped a copy of the race results in the files section.  But, let me call out some highlights:

- in the Men's K-1 class, Geoff Calhoun, winner of this year's Team Trials in April, has taken top honors here as well

- the C-1 title was again taken by Tom Weir.  Since Tom received a bye to this year's Team Trials, this was Tom's first trip to the East Coast to race.  Of course, Tom was over in Europe just a few short months ago.  He's been in the boat a lot this year, and he's driving that boat better than ever

- the throw-together team of Mike Harris and John Pinyerd took the (virtual) hardware in C-2.  It's worth noting that Pinyerd was doing "double duty" as he raced in the C-1 class as well.  I suspect Pinyerd was the busiest paddler in the event

- and in the K-1W event, I happy to re-welcome Lane Errickson, an ex-team who we have not seen in many years, back onto the podium

But, I have some other big news to report as well.  Our US Juniors are bigger and stronger, and so are their results.  Paddling Wavehoppers at this year's Nats, both Sierra O'Brien and MacKenzie Hatcher (from the WV area) are really starting to bring the heat in K-1W.  They both had great results on the tough Deerfield course.  But, I have even bigger news.  He's big, he's strong, and he's only 17 – Peter Lutter is clearly on the move.  In the Sprint, Lutter's faster run was a 10^th of a second of off Calhoun's peak run.  And in Sunday's Classic – Peter clocked in just 22 seconds off of Calhoun's blistering pace. 

A number of local racers and Canadians also joined in at Nationals.  Congrats to all participants.

I would personally like to make a special comment of appreciation to Karen Blom and the entire volunteer crew up at Zoar.  In addition to running a great Nationals, Karen provided food, shuttles, assistance with equipment, and a thousand other smaller things that quietly go un-noticed.  I believe that Karen has set an entirely new standard in wildwater race hostmanship (is that a legal word?).  Thanks again to Karen and Zoar.  Fantastic job.

For those starting to think about next year's Nationals, we'll be gathering out in Colorado in mid-June.  2009 calendar specifics may be viewed at: 2009 Wildwater Race Schedule.

Seth Eisner

Vice Chairman, US Wildwater Committee