For the Cumberland Times-News
Cumberland Times-News The Cumberland Times-News Sat Sep 17, 2011, 10:24 PM EDT
MCHENRY — When the 2014 World Championship Canoe and Kayak Slalom Races come to the Adventure Sports Center International in Garrett County, organizers will use experience from their travel to Slovakia to observe this year’s event.
ASCI, in conjunction with USA Canoe and Kayak, was awarded the winning bid to host the premier event for Olympic whitewater canoe and kayak races earlier this year. ASCI competed with Poland and Austria for this designation. Following the award, Deep Creek 2014 LLC was created as a subsidiary of ASCI to act as the official host entity for the races.
Garrett County Commission Chairman Gregan Crawford will serve as co-chairman along with Terry Hasseltine of the Maryland Office of Sports Marketing, which recently helped organize the Grand Prix auto races in Baltimore. They were joined by Garrett County Economic Development Director Jim Hinebaugh, Susanne Nicolas of ASCI/Deep Creek 2014 and board member Bob Campbell of Whitewater Parks International of Boulder, Colo., on an eight-day trip to Bratislava, Slovakia, to observe the 2011 World Championship and Kayak Slalom Races.
The races in 2014 will mark 25 years since world championship canoe and kayak slalom races were held in the U.S. on Savage River near Bloomington.
Those races helped to generate more than $12 million economic benefit to the state and county. Throughout the event in Bratislava, the group’s credentials allowed for unprecedented access to all areas of the race venue including medical, judging, athlete village, video review, protest challenges, media sources and areas around the course typically off-limits to many event organizers. “This was quite a rewarding experience,” Crawford said.
The group representing Deep Creek 2014 had access to senior members of the International Canoe Federation, which sponsors the event, many of whom had participated in the 1989 World Championship. The ICF looks forward to expanding more into the U.S. marketplace and gaining greater exposure for its sport, and the county commissioners are willing to help them to achieve those goals when practical, according to County Administrator Monty Pagenhardt.
The commissioners are committed to building a long-term relationship with ICF as well as establishing new relationships with other paddle-sport disciplines such as sprint canoe and marathon canoe, Pagenhardt said in a news release. “The board is firmly committed to making the 2014 World Championship Canoe and Kayak Slalom Races a successful event.”
The county has appropriated $25,000 to Deep Creek 2014 to be administered by the Department of Economic Development. In addition, ASCI, Garrett County government and the state of Maryland will be placed on the international stage with such cities as Bratislava, Prague of the Czech Republic and London, which will play host of the 2012 Summer Olympics.
More here.
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