Garrett officials to address Adventure Sports Center takeover

Elaine Blaisdell Cumberland Times-News



OAKLAND — Operations and management of the Adventure Sports Center International will be addressed by the Garrett County Board of Commissioners next week when a press conference is held Tuesday at 10 a.m. in the commission’s public meeting room.

The commissioners and Wendy Yoder, director of the county’s department of financial services, and Scott Weeks, assistant director, held a discussion about ASCI on Monday and then went into executive session to discuss economic development and financial and personnel matters pertaining to the sports center.

The commissioners previously discussed ASCI’s $3 million debt obligation at a February meeting. In January, the sports center’s board of directors proposed to convey all of the center’s facilities, assets and operations to the county. The offer was contingent upon the county assuming ASCI’s liabilities, according to a previous statement released by the commissioners.

During the February meeting, the commissioners made it clear that they would not consider the conveyance if the debt obligations remain.

Also at Monday’s administrative meeting, the commissioners:

• Approved an appropriation of $500 to the town of Kitzmiller for the 2012 Annual Homecoming Festival.

• Discussed the funding of an events coordinator. The commissioners had previously approved in August 2011 the funding of $20,000 to serve as a cost share with the Chamber of Commerce. Commissioners and members of the chamber agreed to place the employment of an independent contractor on hold with the final decision to be made as part of the Fiscal Year 2013 budget.

• Reappointed Donald Stemple to the Garrett County Civil Service Commission.

During the public meeting, the commissioners:

• Approved a bid award to Winters General Contractor Inc. for $46,950 for an airport parking area expansion.

• Provided an update on legislative matters relative to the 2012 session of the Maryland General Assembly.

• Heard an update from Richard MacLennan, president of Garrett College, on the Garrett County Scholarship Program.

• Executed a proclamation celebrating 100 years of Girl Scouts in the United States.

• Recognized Austin Shaffer of Southern Garrett High School as the 2012 State Wrestling Champion.

The next public meeting will be held April 3 at 9 a.m.

Contact Elaine Blaisdell at eblaisdell@times-news.com

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On eliminating ASCI’s $3M debt: Exec. speaks out

Elaine Blaisdell Cumberland Times-News

MCHENRY — Despite dealing with multiple challenges like construction cost overruns, a faltering economy and the Wisp Resort filing for bankruptcy in October, the Adventure Sports Center International remains a focal point in promoting tourism, according to Matt Taylor, executive director of ASCI.

Garrett County commissioners made a public statement Tuesday that they met in executive session to discuss legal, financial and personnel implications of the $3 million debt obligations ASCI incurred because of unanticipated construction costs.

“ASCI has become the nexus it was intended to be, despite the aforementioned challenges,” said Taylor in an email to the Times-News. “The bottom line is that the facility was never intended to operate with debt, and Tuesday’s statements by the commissioners mark an important step in a long process to restructure and eliminate that debt so that ASCI can continue its core missions of promoting adventure tourism and healthy, active outdoor lifestyles.”

The debt was incurred during cost overruns in construction of the actual whitewater course and pond, according to Taylor. ASCI broke ground on the whitewater facility in 2004 and opened in the spring of 2007.

“The ASCI whitewater course is a one-of-a-kind facility and a combination of unique building challenges and high cost of materials. Most of the facility was built in the years following Hurricane Katrina, which greatly inflated certain material and transportation costs (that) led to the overruns,” said Taylor.

ASCI is a nonprofit entity and not under the authority of the board of county commissioners, according to Monty Pagenhardt, county administrator. The financial institutions involved with the debt collection are Susquehanna Bank and First United Bank & Trust.

Adventure Sports Chairman Duane Yoder said the group may consider transferring ownership to Garrett County or Garrett College.

The venture has received $4.1 million from the state, $2.9 million in federal funds, $1.3 million from Garrett County and $2 million from the sales of land donated by DC Development LLC, owner of the Wisp at Deep Creek Mountain Resort.

“ASCI has carried this debt from its opening in 2007 and we have operated for five successful seasons and intend to open in 2012 for our best season yet,” said Taylor.

The debt will not affect operations or the 2014 World Championship Canoe and Kayak Slalom Races, according to Taylor.

“The world championship is a real successful event for us. All along it has been part of our business plan to get corporate sponsors for this event, and this debt makes it hard to have corporate sponsors,” said Taylor.

“We have been in negotiation with the banks for years, and ASCI’s default is part of a structured process to eliminate the debt and allow us to focus on preparation and promotion for Deep Creek 2014. ASCI continues to work with state, local and banking leaders to find a long-term solution.”

In addition to successfully guiding more than 55,000 people down the whitewater course, welcoming more than 200,000 visitors, and hosting eight national and international competitions, ASCI has also developed widely recognized environmental education programs with Garrett County public schools, according to Taylor.

The commissioners will compile their positions and comments on this situation and plan to provide a more detailed review during their Feb. 7 public session, according to Pagenhardt.

Contact Elaine Blaisdell at eblaisdell@times-news.com.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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Still water becomes Class IV rapids

Sunday, August 21, 2011
By Craig Meyer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Even in a sport like kayaking, where every course has its own distinct features and challenges, the ASCI complex in Deep Creek Lake, Md., is considered truly unique among the greater kayaking community.

Situated in mountainous western Maryland, the whitewater course at ASCI maintains the distinction of being the world's only mountaintop whitewater course.

"There is nothing in the United States or even the world that is like this," said ASCI business manager Sandy Bello.

ASCI, a not-for-profit organization formed to promote adventure tourism and healthy outdoor lifestyles, opened the whitewater course in 2007 and has taken over 45,000 people rafting and kayaking in that time.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11233/1168601-140.stm#ixzz1VmXt74PM

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First Whitewater State Tourney To Be Held At ASCI

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Aug. 4, 2011

Competitors from around the region will compete in the first ever Maryland Canoe and Kayak State Championships at the Adventure Sports Center International (ASCI), home to the world's only mountaintop whitewater course, on Saturday, Aug. 13, from 4 to 6 p.m.

The championship is part of the 2011 Maryland Canoe and Kayak Series produced by the Bethesda Center of Excellence. BCE is marketed as the nation's premier slalom canoe/kayak training center and is home to two-time Olympic silver medalist Dana Chladek. Chladek is the BCE head coach and will field a team of "young up and coming athletes" at the event.

The state championships will be a first glimpse of whitewater competition at ASCI since it was awarded the International Canoe Federation's 2014 Canoe Slalom World Championships. ASCI won out over bids from Austria and Poland at the April meeting of the ICF held in Paris.

"Deep Creek 2014," the official title of the ICF 2014 Canoe Slalom World Championships, is scheduled for September 17 through 21. The event will also mark the 25th anniversary of the highly successful 1989 Canoe Slalom World Championships held on the Savage River in Garrett County.

Canoe slalom refers to 'decked' or 'covered' whitewater boats which race a series of gates strategically placed over rapids. The four official Olympic disciplines are: single men and women's kayak (where athletes sit in the boat and use a double bladed paddle) and single and double canoe (where athletes kneel in the boat and use a single bladed paddle).

Maryland has historically fielded the nation's most successful slalom athletes, including world champions Jon Lugbill, Davey Hearn, Fritz and Lecky Haller, Cathy Hearn, Dana Chladek and Olympic gold medalist Joe Jacobi. Bill Endicott, who is heralded as the most successful canoe coach in U.S. history, is also based in Maryland. The Maryland State Championships will be the first and only state-level whitewater competition in the country.

The championships will take place on the upper section of the ASCI whitewater course. Each run will last around 100 seconds, and athletes will be required to navigate 20 gates while covering 300 meters of rapids.

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ASCI Receives $30K Grant For Adventure Education

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Jun. 9, 2011

The Adventure Sports Center International (ASCI) was recently awarded a grant of $30,000 from the Naylor Foundation to support its adventure and environmental education programs with Garrett County public schools. The grant will supplement program and administration costs, and furthers a growing effort to reconnect local children with the outdoors.

Through one of these programs, Southern Middle School recently completed several rafting trips on the ASCI mountaintop whitewater course, which is located at the top of Wisp Resort. Some 160 sixth graders, teachers, and parents participated. For many of the students it was an introductory experience with whitewater rafting. Assisted by a guide, students navigated sections of the course with names like the "Dark Destroyer" and "Pinball Alley," where they learned to paddle through drops and jump the raft off rocks.

While rafting, students also had the opportunity to meet with U.S. veterans who were visiting ASCI as part of the All-American Whitewater Festival. The veterans, who are members of Team River Runner, a Wounded Warrior organization, spoke to the middle school students about the lifelong thrill and therapeutic power associated with whitewater.

Through another of the ASCI sponsored programs, Southern Middle School seventh graders climbed and rappelled the rocks at the Fork Run Recreation Area. A 550-acre preserve, Fork Run is managed by ASCI and open to the general public. During their adventure, students ascended and descended the same cliffs that world famous climbers Lynn Hill, Will Gadd, and Hans Florine have recently visited.

At the event, students were instructed on how to "boulder" while climbing, and also on walking a "slackline," which is a modified tightrope set very low to the ground.

Also through ASCI, local eighth graders undertook adventures in various locations. These consisted of rafting, biking, and hiking excursions at Ohiopyle State Park and kayaking and hiking trips in the Oakland area.

The eighth grade program is called "Discovery," a spokesperson stated, because students are allowed to choose their own adventure and "discover for themselves the challenge and thrill of a particular adventure sport."

After the Northern Middle School sixth grade group rafts at the mountaintop whitewater course this month, the total number of participants from Garrett County's middle schools will total over 900 students. The trip will conclude the school's first year in an ASCI program.

Read more here.

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Garrett County To Host World Event

Many eyes from around the world will be on Garrett County and the Adventure Sports Center International (ASCI) whitewater course on Marsh Mountain in September 2014, as the International Canoe Federation (ICF) has awarded the 2014 Canoe Slalom World Championships to the ASCI site in McHenry. Following presentations at its spring board meeting in Paris last Friday, ICF selected ASCI's bid to host the event over competing entries from Vienna, Austria, and Krakow, Poland. The event will also mark the 25th anniversary of the 1989 World Championships, which were held on the Savage River in Garrett County. Garrett County commissioner Gregan Crawford and ASCI executive director Matt Taylor made the bid presentation in Paris last week. Pictured from left above are Crawford, ICF president José Perurena López, and Taylor. The 2014 competition will also mark a return of world championship whitewater canoe and kayak racing to the United States for the first time since the 1989 Worlds.

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Western Md. Hosts N. American Canoe Championships

MCHENRY, Md. (AP) ― Some of the best paddlers from the United State and Canada are squaring off in the North American Open Canoe Slalom Nationals and North American Championships in western Maryland.

The event runs Friday through Sunday at the Adventure Sports Center International near McHenry.

Open canoe racing involves boats that resemble traditional canoes instead of the kayak-like vessels used in Olympic canoe slalom events.

This is the first open canoe race at the whitewater complex near Deep Creek Lake. The center hosted Olympic-style slalom canoe and kayak national championships in 2007 and 2008.

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Adventure Sports Center International To Host All-American Whitewater Fest.

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The Adventure Sports Center International will host the All-American Whitewater Festival to celebrate America’s veterans, and kick off the summer season of whitewater rafting and kayaking the weekend of May 28–30. Team River Runner athletes will be guests at the event. This is a wounded warrior organization that teaches injured veterans how to heal through whitewater boating.
The festival formally starts on Friday afternoon with Sunset Rafting beginning at 4 p.m. Team River Runner athletes will be on hand during whitewater time from 4 to 8 p.m. kayaking and getting ready for the Veteran’s Race to be held on Saturday. Visitors can meet the veterans and learn how they use whitewater paddling as part of their rehabilitation process, or just come to raft. The Community Day price is $25.

An opening ceremony will be held on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. featuring bag-pipes and the JROTC Color Guard. Veteran athletes will then lead the first ever Whitewater Parade at 11 a.m. The parade will also feature the Figurehead Contest, where homemade figureheads are attached to the bow of rafts and floated down the whitewater course during the parade.

Figureheads must be submitted no later than 9 a.m. that morning in order to allow time to affix them to a raft. Any person or group can build a figurehead to reflect any historic or famous person or creature, but it must be able to sit in the front of a raft or tied to the bow of the raft. Recommended materials are papier-mâché, fiberglass, wood, found materials, vinyl, or rubber. Prizes will be awarded to the most creative and patriotic figureheads.

The Veteran’s Race will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. Rafts will be captained by Team River Runner athletes, and the public is invited to join a raft team for only $10 per entrant. A guided rafting trip down the mountainside will also be offered Whitewater demonstrations will be held all day Saturday, including Olympic kayaking and Mattress Surfing.

Read the rest here.

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Seneca Rocks guide, author to speak at Garrett College Tuesday

Seneca Rocks guide, author to speak at Garrett College Tuesday

Cumberland Times-News

MCHENRY — The Adventuresports Institute of Garrett College will present the final speaker of its fall Colloquium series, Tony Barnes, author of the definitive work on regional climbing, “Seneca: The Climber’s Guide,” on Tuesday from 7 to 8 p.m. in Room 224 of the Continuing Education building. A reception for the speaker will precede the presentation, beginning at 6 p.m.

Barnes’ climbing and guiding career spans 35 years and has occurred in almost as many states. He has been active as a guide for Seneca Rocks Mountain Guides at Seneca Rocks Climbing Area, a part of the Monongalia National Forest, and located nearby in Seneca, W.Va., for the past 20-plus years.

Barnes has written articles on Seneca Rocks for Climbing Magazine and other publications. For the past eight years, he has worked as an adjunct professor of rock climbing for Garrett College’s Adventure Sports program.

For more information about the presentation, contact the Adventuresports Institute at (301) 387-3330 or e-mail adventuresports@garrettcollege.edu.



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US Olympic Team coming to ASCI at Wisp

I received a press release from ASCI today (more from their website):

The U.S. Olympic Team-Canoe/Kayak will be training at ASCI July 14-18, and you're invited to come see the action! The public is welcome to view the team training on ASCI's whitewater course for FREE! The U.S. Olympic Team-Canoe/Kayak for 2008 is:Scott Parsons (K1), Benn Fraker (C1), Heather Corrie (K1W), Casey Eichfeld and Rick Powell (C2). The team’s two coaches are Silvan Poberaj and Cathy Hearn. Casey and Ricky are part-time ASCI employees, and Ricky is enrolled at the Adventure Sports Institute beginning this fall. Scott Parsons is a resident of Bethesda, MD.

Click the photo for a larger, more detailed version:

Two ASCI Staff Members Earn Spots On 2008 Olympic Team

Jul. 10, 2008
Two part-time Adventure Sports Center International (ASCI) staff members, Rick Powell and Casey Eichfield, secured spots on the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team – Canoe/Kayak at the Augsburg, Germany, World Cup this past weekend, and will compete in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, in August along with three other team members.
Rounding out the rest of the team are Scott Parsons of Bethesda, Benn Fraker and Heather Corrie, and Olympic coaches Silvan Poberaj and Cathy Hearn.
The five-person Olympic team has just confirmed it will travel to ASCI for training next week from Monday through Friday. According to Matt Taylor, executive director at ASCI, the team will have exclusive use of the recirculating whitewater course daily in the morning and again late in the afternoon.
ASCI has invited the public to watch the U.S. representatives prepare themselves for the Olympic competition in Beijing.
Persons may visit the ASCI web site at www.adventuresportscenter.com or call 301-387-3250 for information on the Olympic Team's schedule while in Garrett County.