They may be only a few years old as an organization and have only a couple seasons of racing under their belts, but a local outrigger canoe club has been training hard to tackle next month one of the biggest events in their sport.
The Hood River Outrigger Canoe Club (HROCC) will be sending two full six-woman teams and one alternate to compete in the categories of the Queen Lili’uokalani Race early next month in Hawaii — known as the world’s largest long distance outrigger canoe race. Representing the club at the race are Suzi Elle, Anne Snelling, Kassen Bergstrom, Terese Roeseler, Heidi Ribkoff, Jen Solle, Heather Roth Kincaid, Karen Sceva, Amber Wallace, Melissa McElderry, Linda de Jong Grodner, Bonnie Fromm, Cathy Higgins.
Ribkoff, who is getting ready with her teammates to travel to Hawaii and tackle the 18-mile race, said the HROCC is currently in its fourth season and has been continually growing in membership and currently boast “over 50 active paddlers from around the Gorge.” The team paddles larger, six-person Hawaiian-style outrigger canoes, as opposed to smaller OC-1 or OC-2 boats.
“We started with one boat — bought by club founder Josh Sceva — added a second last year and are in the process of refinishing a new/old third boat that we hope to launch before the end of the season,” she explained. “With the help of our own member paddlers that have stepped up to help and paddling guru Johnny Puakea, we have started to refine our paddling technique and continue to learn.”
Under the guidance of Coach (and Port Commissioner) Jon Davies, the team has been practicing once or twice a week throughout the summer in addition to the HROCC’s regular sessions that are held two or three times a week. Some members have been paddling through the winter, while others have been cross-training with activities such as running and skate-skiing.
While the club has been entering more races over the past couple years, this will definitely be the biggest event HROCC has been a part of.
“Our club has only been racing in earnest for two years, although there was one team that did the Gorge race three years ago that paved the way. This was our most successful race season and a lot more paddlers got to participate,” Ribkoff said. “A lot of planning and work goes in to attending events outside of our area such as deciding whether to transport boats or rent/borrow other club boats in addition to deciding who gets to go and how to seat the boats. We have both taken our club boats and borrowed boats this past season. The Queen’s race isn’t the first race outside of the Northwest, though, as a men’s group has raced in Hawaii a couple of winters and individual members race with other groups.”
In addition to the 18-mile race, there will be other races that HROCC hopes to participate during the four-day event, which takes place over Labor Day weekend.
“We hope to field a team or two or jump in with another team in most of the races,” Ribkoff said. “The goal for us is and has been to have fun and race hard and to hopefully make this an event that other club members will want to participate in next time.”
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