Raft racers make splash at world championships in Bosnia

Rapid Fire Racing — made up of captain Bean Hancock, Adelei Carman, Cassie Frazer, Tess Howland and Kendall Hughes — took bronze in the International Rafting Federation World Rafting Championships in Bosnia in early June. 

By: Rich Allen/Aspen Daily News

The next time you book a float trip with Elk Mountain Expeditions or Blazing Adventures, chances are your guide may be a world championship-caliber paddler.

Two local rafting teams represented the United States at the IWorld Rafting Championships on the Vrbas River in Bosnia in early June — and one came home with some heavy hardware.

Rapid Fire Racing, the women’s team made up of captain Bean Hancock, Adelei Carman, Cassie Frazer, Tess Howland and Kendall Hughes, took bronze overall wearing the stars in stripes in Banja Luka in their first global competition, which was put on by the International Rafting Federation.

“It was quite the magical experience, honestly,” Howland said. “It was obviously something we couldn’t even have dreamed of, and our dreams became a reality.”

Against national champions from across the globe, Rapid Fire Racing podiumed in three of the four events at the top international whitewater raft race, taking a silver in the downriver race — the longest of the races, a mass-start event — and third in the head-to-head — where two teams of rafts race up around a set of buoys, bumping each other as they go in an elimination bracket — and in the sprint — a short, timed event. Their lowest score was in slalom, taking sixth in the technical event reaching gates lifted above the water.

Rapid Fire has only been competing together since last year, with some of the members just picking up rafting within the past four years. They finished second in nationals last year, coming up just short of qualifying for world championships, but when winners Red Ladies out of Salida opted out of the event, Rapid Fire got the call.

Now, they’re finishing on a global level behind only Japan — whose athletes are paid — and New Zealand, whose team has been together for around 15 years, Howland said.

“It proved to us that we deserve to be there,” Howland said. “I think we were able to prove that we can race, we kind of know what’s going on and we have a ton of room for improvement. We’re eager to keep going and get more.”

But they weren’t the only reps from the valley, as Riff Raft Racing — also composed of guides from local rafting companies — represented the U.S. men’s open roster.

It was their first trip to worlds as well, secured by winning nationals last year. Their success wasn’t quite on the scale of Rapid Fire’s, but they still took 10th in the world.

The results highlight was a seventh-place finish in the downriver. They finished eighth in the slalom, ninth in the sprint and 12th in the head-to-head.

“We’re super happy for the experience, we learned a lot,” Riff Raft captain Conrad Niven said. “With a bit more training, we’re well positioned to be in the mix for downriver and maybe head-to-head and the slalom as well.”

Riff Raft earned the nod as outright national champs last year, albeit with the graduation of the longtime U.S. team 9-Ball Waterman to the master’s division.

Still, representing the country was a huge honor, Nevin said.

“It’s a pretty wild thing. I think it’s the first time that any of us has represented a country like that,” Nevin said. “The weight of it was a little different, you didn’t anticipate it hitting like that.”

Riff Raft sent Nevin, Tyler Aikens, Curtis Berklund, Trevor Frederickson and Taylor Norman to Bosnia.

Riff Raft Racing — made up of captain Conrad Nevin, Tyler Aikens, Curtis Berklund, Trevor Frederickson and Taylor Norman — took 10th in the whitewater raft racing world championships. Both Riff Raft and Rapid Fire Racing are headed back to the world championships next year after winning national titles in June. 

Both Howland and Nevin shouted out the community that stayed up until the early hours of the morning to watch races live and have supported them to get this point.

It may be surprising that one small valley represented both the men’s and women’s open teams at first glance, but it speaks to the strength of the valley, and as Nevin jokingly noted that“half the men’s team is dating half the women’s team.”

“We have some pretty ridiculous talent for the relatively small pool of paddlers that we have,” Nevin said. “I think it might bleed over a little bit from the other competitive sports that take root here. People stay relatively humble for the level of expertise they have and that helps invite people in and not create an exclusive culture.”

Both teams train together to an extent over the season, especially when you need another team for head-to-head training, Howland said.

And the training will continue after both teams are world championship bound again in 2025, after both won the national championship just a week before heading to Bosnia.

They’ve got some big ideas in the works, including bringing in team Brazil, who won three men’s open events outright and finished at worst third.

Both Riff Raft and Rapid Fire hope that the success can help grow the competitive aspect of the sport locally.

“I think that’s what made us all stoked about rafting is we had all these amazing influences that tried to make us better,” Howland said. “Now, we can hopefully be able to give back to the community and make other people better boaters. One of our big things is we want to get more women in whitewater — it’s a pretty male-dominated sport. We want to get some more super awesome, rad women boating with us.”

Both teams are slated to compete in the 2024 SlaughterFest on June 22 at the Slaughterhouse run through Henry Stein Park.