Hanna and Superboo Paddle the MR 340

The MR 340 is a 340 mile race on the Missouri River running from Kansas City to St Charles on August 4th - 7th . Hannah and Marissa, aka "Boo", are the youngest to ever attempt this race and they are doing it to help raise as much as 10,000 for breast cancer research. KIALOA Paddles was proud to sponsor the girls with a pair of custom pink hybrid paddles. Check out The Adventures of Superboo and follow their race!

Here is a great video the two girls did about their upcoming adventure.

KIALOA's 2009 Scholarship Winners

The 2009 Live Like You Paddle Student Scholarship was a huge success. The Scholarship commitee had a hard time choosing just 10 winners, in fact, we had to change it to 11 winners this year! We just couldn't compromise.

This year was the 6th annual Student Scholarship where kids 18 and under are eligible to apply for the opportunity to win a KIALOA Hybrid outrigger paddle. They were asked to express their love of Outrigger Canoe paddling and how it ties into Hawaiian cultural values. We received essays, poems, videos, collages and drawings, just to name a few.

Below is a video by one of the winners, Ho'oulu Bueltmann. He is a 6th grader from Hilo and a first year paddler.

Congratulations to the 2009 KIALAO Scholarship winners:

Haile Brant, Ho'oulu Bueltmann, Rebekeh Mersbergh, Katie Amberg-Johnson, Ricki Alao, Makana Macomber, Wren Prouse, Alakahea Familar, Rosie Smith, Iris Tung, and Chelsea Kennedy.

Check out the KIALOA website soon for a complete winners page and view their projects.

Press Release:

PDF : http://www.prlog.org/10284558-kialoa-announces-student-scholarship-winners.pdf

HTML: http://www.prlog.org/10284558-kialoa-announces-student-scholarship-winners.html

Gorge Outrigger Races

The 12th annual Gorge Outrigger Races are taking place July 17-19th on the famous Columbia River Gorge! This race draws paddlers from all over the Northwest, Canada, California and Hawaii. The unique waters and beautiful gorge make this the premier race in the northwest and the most anticipated event of the season.

On Friday there is a fun downwinder for OC1, OC2 and surfskis. If you're lucky you can get behind the Sternwheeler for a really fun ride! Saturday is the 6-man races and Sunday is the 1-man races and an SUP category as well. Camping is free at the Stevenson Fairgrounds where you really get a chance to visit with all the clubs for the two nights we're there.

KIALOA has always been a proud sponsor of this race and we haven't missed one in all the 12 years. Most of KIALOA employees are paddlers and we look forward to the event every year! KIALOA will have a booth at Bob's Beach with many good deals to be had!

For more information go to Waterwalker or Bend Oregon Outrigger.

Watch a fun and informative video!

Rooster Rock Outrigger Race

The Rooster Rock Outrigger Race was this last Saturday hosted by Mountain Home Canoe Club in Portland, OR. The race was on the Columbia River and about 10 miles long. It was a beautiful summer day and we had crews there from all over the northwest and Canada. There was OC-6, OC-1, OC-2, Surfski, and even an SUP division. I was in the Bend Oregon womens OC-6 boat and we had a lot of fun and did pretty well too! Mahalo Mountain Home for such a great event!

Here are some pictures to share by photographer Paul Cunningham. He has pictures from the race for sale at his website.

Laura Ricker was a key organizer from the Mountain Home team for this event. KIALOA was proud to donate a paddle for the raffle.

"What a great race," said Laura, "but only because of the amazing group we had there. I'm telling you, I was drooling over Dave's KIALOA paddle for months! It was great to see that it brought smiles when it was won. I KNEW we'd have two walk up for that prize!"



Race Results:

Women OC-6

1. Mountain Home (Portland, OR)
2. Bend (Bend, OR)
3. Jericho (Vancouver, BC)

Men OC-6

1. Kai Ikaika (Portland, OR)
2. Mountain Home (Portland, OR)
3. Sail Sand Point (Seattle, WA)

Mixed OC-6

1. Tri-Cities (Richland, WA)
2. Seattle OCC (Seattle, WA)
3. Waikinakona (Seattle, WA)

Complete Race Results