Saturday was the slalom race and I was 3rd in Women’s open and E.J. was 1st in men’s open. The weather was perfect and the river was even higher making it a challenging course. Thanks for the great course Charlie!
Sunday was boater cross and I made it into the 2nd round where I took a paddle to my face so I finished 4th. As always, I enjoyed meeting people and talking to kids about kayaking throughout the weekend, and the festival was also a great fundraiser for my friend Jason Craig who was injured in a kayaking accident and my friend Daniel and I picked the raffle tickets for great prizes. Here is a link if you would like to donate to his recovery fund.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jason-Craig-Recovery-Fund/202672366427897?ref=ts

Thank you for putting on a great event!

freestyle Jr. podium

Jason Craig Fundraising raffle

Sage Donnelly, Brush Creek, Kernville, Ca.

For the 2nd year in a row, My family and I traveled to Kernville, Ca. to compete in the 47th Kern River Festival and 7th (?) annual Brush Creek Extreme Race. We arrived about 2 weeks early so I could attend the Gold Medal Camp put on by former Olympic Gold Medalist Joe Jacobi, former Olympic coach Bob Campbell, US National Jr. Development coach Tom Long, and former National Team members Chad, Kenneth and Anne Long. The weather wasn’t the greatest, (it even snowed!) but the coaching was! I highly recommend this camp to improve your slalom or overall river running skills. Then it was time to put my new skills to work and train for Brush Creek and the Kern River slalom course. Brush Creek was about 3 which is a great flow for the race, and I was the only Jr. girl among the 3 jr. boys that included my friend Daniel who was competing for the first time. Several other Jackson Kayak paddlers were there, including Colin Kemp and Darin McQuid, and fellow Reno paddler Noah Frasier made the journey down as well. I was able to boof over my problem area from last year (Fuzzy Bunny) so I felt very good about my race. Then it was onto the slalom race in downtown Kernville where they just received the permits to build a whitewater park. The water was very high and fast so the course was challenging. I think everyone had a great time! Hopefully next year they also have freestyle in their new whitewater park!

I just received my new Rasta (red, yellow, and green) Shooting Star kid’s playboat and I love it! Jackson Kayak also has Goth available (green, white, and black) as a standard color for boats now. The first thing I did was head down to the Reno Whitewater Park to try it out on a nice, high flow of about 900 cfs. It was super easy to loop and cartwheel. I was also able to try my new orange Lightning Freeride Junior paddle available through Jackson kayak, and it’s awesome! It is very light and easy to get used too.

With a very high snowpack this year, all of California and Nevada’s rivers are running high and will be for sometime, so I am spending lots of time in my Jackson Sidekick too. It is a very stable river runner and creek boat that I have been using since I was 7 and ran most of the rapids on the Grand Canyon in. Mom always said I looked like a weeble that wobbled but wouldn’t fall down! It boofs like a dream, punches holes easily, and pops up from drops like a cork. If you have a child who wants to get into kayaking, this is the perfect boat to start them in!

Right now, I am packing my van to head down to Kernville, Ca. for the Kernriver Festival where I hope to compete in the Brush Creek Race (if it’s not too high!) and slalom race. I will also be doing some fundraising for my friend and teammate Jason Craig, so if you like earrings, look for me!  Then it’s home to prepare for the Reno River Festival! Hope to see you there!

Last week I was invited back for a second year to speak to kids about different river careers at Billinghurst Middle School in Reno, NV.  I open my presentation with a kayaking video, then put on an informational slideshow, and  close it with another video of kayaking.  I also like to ask trivia questions to make sure the kids are paying attention, and give out Jackson Kayak Promotional DVD’s for correct answers. It’s amazing how many kids remember how much a topped out Grand Canyon guide can make on a 16 day trip!  After I pass out JK stickers, I invite everyone up to check out the boats and gear. I put on the same presentation 5 times to different groups of kids everytime, so I spoke to over 100 kids!  I know I had fun and I hope all the kids did too.

Sage

This week I was asked to talk to local highschool students in a Health Occupations class about being an athlete with diabetes. I was nervous at first because they were highschool students and so much bigger than me, but I loosened up and had a good time. The students asked lots of questions and I had fun showing them how I check my sugar and insert a catheter for my insulin site.  I showed them one of of my videos so they could see what I do, then asked trivia questions and gave out Jackson DVD’s for correct answers. The kids looked very interested in what I had to say and I think they learned a lot and had fun doing it. They are hopin to raise $10,000 for Juvenial Diabetes reseach and I hope they beat their goal!

Last week I was able to do a personal first decent, my first one for the year! It was E to P on the South Yuba River near Nevada City, Ca. It is a class 4 river and it was lots of fun and had a couple a really cool boofs. My favorite rapids were called Corner Pocket, and  Door #3. The water was a little low but perfect for my first run, and the weather was perfect and sunny.  The next day, we ran over to the NF of the American and ran Chamberlain Falls, a river that I had run for the first time last year. Once again we had beautiful weather and I had a great time. My favorite rapid on Chamberlain is called Bogus Thunder. It has a really fun ferry and a couple of holes you have to punch. Unfortunately, no one had a camera so I don’t have any pictures. It is starting to cool down in California and Nevada again, but there is always a river running somewhere. See you on the river, Sage

This Christmas I decided I wanted to do a fundraiser for one of my favorite charities, American Whitewater! I decided making earrings would be a fun way to make holiday gifts and sold them throughout Carson City, Reno, and all over the country! I tried to only use natural rocks and wood to emphasize the river, so I used lots of turquoise, obsidian, jasper, jades and wood beads. On Christmas Eve, I sent AW a donation of $420 from the sale of earrings, and since then, I have raised over $100 more to donate this month!  I am having so much fun doing this that I plan on taking them on the road with me this summer and selling them at river events for American Whitewater. Thanks to everyone who purchased earrings, and glad they made it through the mail safely- hope you enjoy them. Drop me a line if you see anything your interested in.

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It has been an incredible year for me! I accomplished most of my goals for 2010 including completing my loop and competing in the Junior Olympics where I won 5 gold medals and I became the Cub Cadet National Slalom Champion. I also run more class 4 rivers and worked hard to support American Whitewater and Outdoor Nation as a good ambassador.

2010 Whitewater Accomplishments

Kern River Festival,  1st.  in Jr. Women’s Slalom,  2nd. in Women’s Extreme Creek Race,  2nd.  in Women’s Extreme Slalom Race, 1st. in Women’s Triple Crown

Cache Creek, 1st in Jr. Slalom

Reno River Festival.  2nd. in Jr. Freestyle

Truckee River Race, 1st. in Jr. Slalom

Auburn River Festival, 1st. Jr. Freestyle, 1st. Jr. Slalom

Yampa River Festival, 1st in Jr. open Freestyle, 2nd. in Jr Freestyle,  2nd. in  Jr.  Women’s Slalom

Teva Mountain Games, 12th in Women’s Freestyle, only cadet competitor

Lyons River Festival, 2nd in Cadet Slalom, 2nd in Cadet Freestyle

FibArk River Festival,  1st Cadet.  Freestyle, 1st. Cadet. Slalom

American River Festival, 1st Cadet Freestyle, 1st Cadet Slalom

Mokelumne River Festival, 1st Cadet Down River Race, 1st Cadet Slalom

Age Group National Slalom Championship., 1st Cub-Cadet

Junior Olympics, 5 Gold Medals and 2 first places (non-sanctioned event) in Women’s Cub Cadet Category, 1st. Slalom, 1st. Sprint Slalom, 1st.  Boatercross, 1st. Down River Sprint, 1st. Down River Race, 1st. C2 Slalom, 1st. Freestyle.

I was able to travel all over the nation this year and ran several new class 4 rivers including The Tellico,  Youghiogheny, Cheat, New River, and the Ocoee, as well as the Nantahala and the Potomac rivers in the east, and Pauley Creek, Brush Creek, the Kaweaha, and the  NF of the American, as well as my first over night self support kayak trip on class 4 Deer Creek. in the west.

Off River I spoke to 150 middle school students about river careers on Career Day in Reno, Nv. and to 100 4th and 5th graders in Sacramento, Ca. about getting outside and enjoying the outdoors, but especially kayaking!

Goals for 2011

I hope to continue competing and defend my Jr. Olympic and National titles and learn more freestyle tricks including Cartwheels, Backloops and Spacegodzillas.  I also hope to run as many rivers as possible and be a good ambassador for AW and Outdoor Nation.