FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. — West Virginia’s leading adventure resort Adventures on the Gorge will sponsor its own women’s team at the United States National Rafting Championships this weekend in Gold Hill, Oregon.
The four-member team will compete this Saturday and Sunday on Oregon’s Klamath and Rogue Rivers.
Jo-Beth Stamm, of Elkins, is an AOTG rafting guide who was on the U.S. women’s team that competed in the recently concluded World Rafting Championships in Indonesia. Her team placed eighth.
“Over 30 countries were represented there, so I got to meet some fantastic people from all over the world and people that are also really into paddling and really into rafting different rivers,” Stamm told MetroNews.
Stamm was an alternate with the team overseas and got to compete head-to-head with Japan. “We were right on their tail the whole time. They were a fantastic team,” she recalled.
Sherry Stilker of Fayetteville, Margaret Cadmus of Elkins and Hannah Vogt of Fayetteville are also AOTG guides, on both the New and Gauley Rivers, that joined the new team they named “Sweets of the East.”
“We’re all very proud,” Stilker said of what it’s like to represent West Virginia. “Not only are we the only team out here on the East, we’re the only team from West Virginia. It’s going to be kind of nice to turn people’s heads a little bit.”
The team has been preparing for this weekend’s competition for months, Stilker said.
“We’ve been planning and training this since November, so we’re just excited that it’s finally here,” she said.
Stilker said the way they plan to win is to remain positive and to rely on their training. “We’ve been working for it,” she said.
The dynamic force of the water is what keeps the team going, Stamm added. She said rafting is a unique sport that requires a lot of focus.
“The river is always in control. We’re never totally in control and I kind of love that about it — that you have to work with it, work with the water. You can’t be in charge of it,” she said.
The winner of the national championships will represent the United States at the next World Rafting Championship held on Oct. 31 through Nov. 5 on an artificial whitewater stream in Abu Dhabi.
Adventures on the Gorge is located on more than 1,000 acres along the New River Gorge near Fayetteville and borders three miles of the New River Gorge National River.