2007 AW Ohiopyle Over the Falls Festival -- Wrap-up
By Barry Adams
Event Coordinator
 Barry!


Thanks to Kent Noble for the photo used above. 

After having to postpone our regular date of August 25, 2007 due to high water, we were able to use our alternative date of September 15, 2007. Even though this was a cool day for September, it turned out to be a beautiful day.

As previously noted, we have submitted several proposals over the last year to gain additional access to the Falls. Currently the Park has confirmed that they are working on an additional license agreement with the various outfitters who currently operate in the park in order to enable them to take paddlers over the falls. Once these agreements are completed, the outfitters will have the option to accept these agreements. A number of outfitters have indicated interest. In addition, the Park Manager is working on a review and proposal to submit to the Bureau of State Parks in order to gain access on some basis for private boaters for 2008. The Park Manager has told us he is optimistic that something can be worked out for private boaters for 2008. AW and this event are committed to securing access to Ohiopyle Falls. We plan to continue discussions with Park management and Bureau of State Parks. Any news will be posted on our website, www.FallsRace.com.

This year’s event went very well. Some of the results of the competition are as follows:

Sprint Races
Overall Winner of the Oliver Cup was Geoff Calhoun of Bethesda Maryland for the second year in a row. Geoff also won the Upstream Race. Geoff Calhoun is one of the top Wildwater (Downriver) racers in the US and was ranked as the number one US Wildwater boater in 2005. Geoff is only 21 years old.
Monica Gokey of Confluence PA had the fastest time in the Women's division.

FreeStyle
Overall Winner of the Jeff Snyder Cup was LJ Groth of White Salmon, Washington. LJ is a member of Team Wave Sport and can be seen in numerous videos going over a number of waterfalls. LJ helped teach our “How to Run a Waterfall” clinic last year. Monica Gokey also won the Freestyle event in the Women’s division.

Complete results are on the website: www.FallsRace.com.

We had participants from all over the country. Most paddlers are content not to enter any competition and just see how many times they can go over the Falls. We had around 200 participants run the Falls and about 70 raced. The water level started at 1.4 and ended at around 1.6 feet. Once again Eric Martin of Wilderness Voyageurs sponsored the World Championship Upstream Race on the Entrance rapid of the Lower Yough. We had a town party sponsored by Laurel Highlands Outdoor Center with a terrific band. The silent auction had bargains for everyone. The Falls are magnificent during the day but look even better when lit up at night with some new lights.

We hope to continue with an August date and have a tentative date for next year of August 23, 2008. We anticipate access for private boaters next year and hope to make this event more of a competition and increase the price money. Again we would like to thank the Corps of Engineers, which aids us in achieving the appropriate water level for our event.
It takes a lot of work to put an event together like this. I would like to recognize those that make this event happen.

COMMITTEE
Event Coordinator: Barry Adams (that’s me)
AW Representatives: Barry Tuscano (Board Member and Father of this event) and Mark Singleton
Safety Director: Pat Norton
Website Coordinator: Matt Muir (Outstanding Website)
Upstream Race: Eric Martin (Wilderness Voyageurs)
Town Liaison and Party Sponsor: Mark McCarty (Laurel Highlands Outdoor Center)
Park Liaison: John Hallas (Park Manager)
PA Organization for Watersheds and Rivers: John Coutts
River Flows: Terry Palmor
Corps of Engineers: Werner Loehlein
Freestyle Judging – Jamie Rosenberger and Devon Chalfont
Timing: Erin Bethea - Mark Singleton – Barry Tuscano
PA Announcer: Gary McCormick
Cup Designs: Chuck Stump
Boxes (fine art): Mykl Messer
On-site Entertainment and Official Host: Jeff Snyder
Site Set-up: Carl Erb and Ohiopyle Volunteer Fire Department
On Site Registration: Maureen Patton and Erin Bethea
Treasurer, Pre-Registration, Promotion, T-shirts, Entertainment, Sponsors etc: That would also be me. Hey, I could use some help here. I need to get a life?
It is difficult to recognize just one or two persons since everyone did a great job but Matt Muir (Riviera Ratt) once again doing the website and Pat Norton on Safety worked very hard on this event.

Of course this event would not be possible without volunteers for safety and administration. I know these jobs can be tedious at best but we really need almost everyone’s help. We need participants to pre-register so we know we have enough for safety. Basically, this is where I make my plea to pre-register and volunteer specifically for safety. When the park opens the Falls up on some limited basis we hope to make this more of a competition with higher prize money. Of course, we will still allow participants to run the falls without entering the race, however.

I hope everyone had a good time. Let me know the good and bad regarding this event and any suggestions you may have for future events. I particularly want to hear from anyone that would like to help with this event. It really can be a lot of fun to help out. Just in case you did not know the proceeds from this event go to American Whitewater, Ohiopyle Stewart Volunteer Fire Co and Friends of Ohiopyle

Ohiopyle Adventure Photography is the official photographer of the event and has the concession with the Park. They sell pictures on a disk and prints, which you can do a number of things with. You can contact them at Ohiopyle at the old Dairy Queen on Rt 381 or at 412-558-0274: customerservice@outdooradventurephoto.com. All the pictures are on the website of www.OutdoorAdventurePhoto.com.

Most importantly I would like to thank our major sponsors: Pennsylvania Organization for Watersheds and Rivers (POWR), American Whitewater and Compendium Software. There were numerous other sponsors. Check out the sponsor list on our Web site. If you would like to be a sponsor of this event contact me.

See you next year.