Red Lady Raft Team repeats as National Champions

Set for a return to the World Championships

The Red Lady Raft Team continued their domination of women’s raft racing last weekend, winning their second national title in a row.
The Red Lady Raft Team formed four years ago and after a few line-up changes to the squad, settled into an official team of six paddlers, including Jennifer Cook of Crested Butte for the 2013 season.
They immediately went to work on their goal of becoming the U.S. National champions, mixing in pool time practice in the winter with paddling-specific yoga, additional strength training and cold weather paddling, oftentimes trudging with their gear through snow to get to any open water they could find.
Their efforts paid off almost immediately as they won the first competition they entered in Taos, N.M. in May 2013. They followed that up by winning a race on the Animas near Durango in June and carried their momentum into the national championships in the Royal Gorge by Cañon City, taking the 2013 title by defeating the 10-time defending Elements Team out of Vail.
The win punched their ticket to the world championships in New Zealand in November last year and talk of a possible top three finish circulated through the raft racing community stateside.
There are four stages to raft racing: down river racing through class III and IV stretches; head to head racing for a mile; a slalom course portion; and then a time trial section. The Red Ladies ended up finishing seventh overall out of 15 teams at the world championships.
“The experience was incredible,” says Cook. “We learned a lot. It was definitely an eye opener.”
One thing they realized is that most, if not all, of their competition had anywhere from five to 15 years of experience paddling together, had been to the world championships several times before and were almost entirely sponsored to the point of being paid to paddle.
“We were kind of the rag-tag team,” says Cook.
The highlight of the Worlds came in the head-to-head competition. As the number nine seed, the Red Ladies drew the second seeded team out of Japan in the first round and ended up beating them, which was the upset of the race. The Red Ladies moved on to knock off a couple more teams to finish the head-to-head portion in third place.
“We were able to podium and that was really exciting,” says Cook. “We proved we were a team to be reckoned with and we showed everyone that we are competitors.”
The experience further fueled the fire for the Red Lady team and as they went their separate ways, they each committed to keeping up on their own fitness to continue pushing the envelope.
“We did a lot more training on our own so that when we were able to get together, we made sure the training counted,” explains Cook.
This year the raft-racing format switched to a four-person format from the six-person format last season. Cook stayed on with Julie Sutton and Tana Deklevar. Jennifer Hodgkiss remained as an alternate and they pulled Eva Lambert onto the team and used the spring to bring her up to speed.
Thanks to a relatively dry March and April on the other side of the Continental Divide, the team was able to get in considerably more time on the Arkansas River this season as they prepared for the 2014 Nationals.
“This year was really good because we were able to hit Pine Creek and Numbers more and that helped with our endurance and improved our river reading skills,” says Cook. “We’ve kind of become one in the boat and had to bring Eva into our mind meld.”
The Nationals were held on the Cal-Salmon River and the Red Lady team was unsure of what lay ahead as they prepared to defend their title.
“We weren’t sure about our competition and the river was very challenging,” says Cook. “It was the first time as a team racing in class V rapids.”
They ended up sweeping all four events at Nationals to cruise to the overall title, earning a spot at the world championships.
“We definitely proved our skills as class V raft racers,” says Cook.
While companies such as Bomber Gear and RTI both stepped up to provide all the gear needed, the Red Lady Raft Team is still searching for the big money sponsor.
“Our friends and family got us to New Zealand and that was amazing,” says Cook. “But we feel bad asking again so we’re trying to branch out and find bigger sponsors.”
Unfortunately, there’s now some uncertainty surrounding the world championships, originally scheduled for early September, as Brazil is in the midst of an historic drought.
“Everybody is kind of on hold,” says Cook. “Hopefully there will be a worlds—we just don’t know where or when.”
In the meantime they have plans to compete in a race near Golden, Colo. and in the Royal Gorge in May and hope to add a raft-racing event to the Gunnison River Festival and continue honing their skills for worlds.
“We’ll try to hit as many races as possible,” says Cook.