Red Ladies Rafting earns spot at Worlds in Brazil | Local News
Despite low water impacting training, the Red Ladies Rafting Team earned two first-place victories at Nationals competition in California Aug. 13-15 and will represent the USA in the women’s open category at Worlds in November.
The competition will be Nov. 27-29 in Piracicaba, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Team member Carey Cloud said, “Of course there were challenges with not having any water this year – which was a big hurdle. (Winning) felt especially meaningful just because we did have to overcome a lot of those environmental challenges.”
The low water in the Arkansas River forced the four-woman team to train on Frantz Lake.
“It was hard to keep up morale, hard to feel inspired when paddling on a lake,” Cloud said.
She added that they worked on their endurance on the lake, doing many sprint drills, and they also tossed out PFDs and paddled around them in a figure-8.
“It was brutal. I don’t think the fisherman people liked us,” she said with a laugh.
Cloud is originally from Oklahoma and came to Salida 10 years ago. She was introduced to rafting by friends but was initially terrified of whitewater. She turned that fear into motivation and took a river guide course, became a guide, then participated with some Red Ladies for the FIBArk Downriver Race in 2019, a high-water year. The course was moved to Hecla Junction to town, so 14 miles instead of the typical 26.
“We had to run Seidel’s Suckhole and Twin Falls at 4,500 cfs. We never stopped paddling, and it was really intense and painful. I remember thinking, ‘Why does anyone do this?’”
As it turns out, Cloud likes the adrenaline piece.
“You get to run new rivers, which is really fun,” she said. “And you get a core group of awesome ladies to do that with. The commander and just getting to see friends on a regular basis every week on water is really fun.”
In addition to the lack of water, the slalom gates in Salida Whitewater Park were often unavailable, so the team was unable to train much for that event, Cloud explained.
Despite this setback, they still finished second in the slalom.
The Red Ladies competed against four other teams, another one from Colorado, two from California and one from West Virginia.
She said the other Colorado team faced similar water challenges, but West Virginia seemingly had plenty of water to train on moving rivers.
“West Virginia seemed to have a leg up on us; they beat us in slalom,” Cloud said.
The Red Ladies took first in sprint and first in rafter cross, which was a new event to Nationals.
In rafter cross, teams get matched up based on their sprint times to battle another team around both upstream and downstream buoys. Whoever completes the course fastest wins, but there are also penalties for various types of contact with the other raft and for missing buoys. If you get four penalties you get eliminated.
Cloud said that event was really fun and the most entertaining for spectators, of which there were “a few.”
“It’s a relatively unknown sport. It’s growing, but still a lot of people are like, ‘What’s raft racing?’”
When the team – Cloud, Meghan Roberts, Liv Holowachuk and Jen Hodgkiss – arrived in Coloma, California, Aug. 10, they immediately started training.
“We drove straight through, 18 hours. We rolled right to the put-in and started training,” Cloud recalled.
The competition was held on the South Fork of the American River. All the rafts were provided to the teams, to keep at least one variable consistent in the competition, she explained.
The Red Ladies have been a competitive raft racing team for about 15 years, but the team members have changed often. Cloud has been part of the team for three years. Roberts is the team captain and has been on the team for 10 years. Both Hodgkiss and Holowachuk had been on the team previously and returned in February. Holowachuk was on the team that competed at Worlds in the Czech Republic in 2022.
While they trained consistently together since February, the last two months they tried to get on water two to three times per week. That sometimes meant others would tag in to fill the raft.
“We got a lot of support from other people in the community with our training.”
A new feature to this iteration of the team that never existed before is corporate sponsorship. The team is sponsored by Mountain Engineering.
“They are lovely folks. Really awesome river people,” she said.
With a sponsor, team costs are lower than ever, but one of the biggest challenges for the Worlds competition is the team will need to either buy or rent a raft once they land in Brazil. They are not provided like they are for Nationals, and rafts are scarce. Additionally, the rafts have to meet certain specifications. Renting one for the duration can really add up, she said.
The team will travel with their PFDs, paddles and helmets. And the U.S. Rafting Association is providing their jerseys for the competition.
Cloud said the team will hold another party/fundraiser ahead of their November departure to Brazil. Even with their sponsor, flights alone will cost thousands of dollars.
“The last one we had at High Side was incredible. The support from this community is just unmatched. I really feel like that’s how we’re able to do it – through all the support from this river community and all the local businesses.”