Dawson Students to compete in Wildwater World Championships

Dawson School’s canoe and kayak team, which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, will be represented by four students at the Wildwater World Championships in Bosnia this July. Dawson's Charlie Sutcliffe (Class of '20) and Kartik Raghavan ('22) will compete in solo Men's Kayak, Olivia Spencer ('21) will compete in solo Women's Kayak, and Peter Coggan ('19) in solo Men's Canoe. The team has had another exciting season of competition this year to earn this opportunity, including racing in nearly unprecedented water levels at Nationals earlier this month in Salida, definitely earning the 'wildwater' moniker.

Team coach Nate Lord - an Upper School English teacher at Dawson - has worked in conjunction with Team Colorado Whitewater Racing club to make a national impact on the sport by making it more popular, diverse, and inclusive over the years. The Dawson School Canoe and Kayak Team is known as an important contributor to the sport, and to the USA Wildwater organization, in particular.

Wildwater Canoeing is an International Canoe Federation discipline; there is a Junior and U23 Wildwater World Championship every other year. This year, 14 junior and U23 athletes are going to worlds in Banja Luka, Bosnia. Along with the four current Dawson students, there are also Dawson alums on the National Team: Joslin Coggan (WK1), Ben Deitsch (MK1), Amanda Creek (WK1), and Ben Peeples (MC1).

Follow along on their journey from July 23-28 with #ICFwildwater on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.