Paddler Magazine Announces Paddler Pro Invitational, Celebrates 15th Anniversary

(Steamboat Springs, Colo.): To help celebrate its 15th anniversary, Paddler magazine has announced its first-ever $4,000 Paddler Pro Invitational event to be held in the magazine’s home town of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, May 29, 2006.

Brought to you by Dagger kayaks, the cash-purse event is timed to coincide with the Teva Mountain Games, drawing the world’s best kayakers to the Yampa River for a creek race and freestyle competition. With regional snowpack at a near-record high, the event—which will be broadcast on Resrot Sport Network–promises thrills and spills as the nation’s best vie for the lion’s share of the purse. “We’ve had 15 great years, and this is a way to celebrate both that milestone as well as the athletes who have kept pushing the sport forward,” says Paddler Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Eugene Buchanan. “It should be a great event.”

The two-event competition includes a mile-long race on Yampa tributary Fish Creek, as well as a freestyle competition on Charlie’s Hole, a newly built feature on which the City recently won a Recreational In-channel Diversion (RICD) water right. Prize money will be divided among the top three finishers in men’s and women’s categories for each event, with the majority going to the overall combined winners.

Following the event will be Paddler magazine’s 15th Anniversary party, sponsored by New Belgium Brewery, providing just as much edge-of-your-seat excitement. Paddler would like to thank sponsors Dagger, Steamboat Ski Corp., Kokatat, Fortress, Dermatone, Adventure Technology, Smith and the American Canoe Association for supporting this event.