Let's Go Paddling delegates join Outdoor Nation Youth Summit

Let’s Go Paddling sends delegates to Outdoor Nation Youth Summit

Salida, CO – Four delegates nominated by the Let’s Go Paddling initiative will be among more than 500 of America’s top young leaders from across the country travelling to New York City this weekend to help represent paddlesports interests at the Outdoor Nation Youth Summit and Festival. During the event, the largest and most diverse outdoor youth summit in our country’s history, delegates will develop a national agenda, set priorities and outline strategies to champion the outdoors as athletes, artists, advocates and ambassadors.

The initiative’s official partners and Welcome Centers recommended LGP’s paddelsports delegates. The four delegates include: Tino Specht, from Zoar Outdoor’s elite Team Z, Jessica Subido from California Canoe and Kayak, Kaitlyn McElroy from Oklahoma City Boathouse Foundation and Emily Yen, of Dartmouth University’s Ledyard Canoe Club.

Two of LGP’s delegates, Subido and McElroy are or have represented the US in national and international competitions. McElroy is an accomplished multi-discipline paddler. Last summer, she won the K4 500m in the ICF World Canoe Sprint Championships in Canada, then she raced in the ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships in Portugal and finally she raced in the ICF Dragon Boat World Championships in the Czech Republic winning a Silver Medal in the Women’s Team Race. Two-time National Junior Women’s Slalom Champion Jessica Subido is a 22-year-old student at Sierra College where she is president of the school’s outdoor club. An avid creekboater as well, in 2005 Subido, then 15, became the youngest woman to run the Class V Cherry Creek of California’s Tuolumne River.

Presented by The North Face and a host of sponsors, the Outdoor Nation Youth Summit and Festival will combine outdoor activities and outdoor advocacy to raise awareness about the important role that the outdoors and recreational activities play in healthy active lifestyles. The goal of the event is to empower young leaders to start the next revolution by building an Outdoor Nation for this and future generations.

The Outdoor Nation Festival will turn Central Park into the ultimate, outdoor adventure playground and entertainment festival complete with concerts and cultural festivities, as well as nature-based activities. In partnership with The North Face, Backpacker and the New York City Parks & Recreation Department, Outdoor Nation will build upon the existing Adventures NYC as the nation’s biggest event celebrating youth and the outdoors.

The Outdoor Nation Youth Summit has also been selected as an official listening session for President Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors Initiative, as well as the first-ever ‘youth listening session’ on Green Jobs and Outdoor Careers.

Many outdoor industry leaders and Outdoor Industry Association members will be in attendance, including Frank Hugelmeyer, president and CEO of OIA. “Outdoor Nation is the culmination of years of work by The Outdoor Foundation board and staff,” said Hugelmeyer. “It is very encouraging to see our nation’s youth so enthusiastic to set a fresh course for the future of outdoor recreation.”

Let’s Go Paddling is a grass roots effort to get more people paddling more often on freshwater, saltwater, flatwater or whitewater. For more information and to become part of the initiative, visit http://www.LetsGoPaddling.com.