The International Whitewater Hall of Fame will announce the names of its newest inductees at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market. This announcement concludes a six-month nomination process that began in February. Elections are currently underway by a 45-member voting electorate consisting of nationally and internationally-recognized whitewater paddlers representative of the whitewater community to determine the newest class of inductees.
The elections will determine one inductee each for the Explorer and Pioneer Explorer categories and two inductees each for the Advocate and Champion categories. For Explorer, the nominees are Walt Blackadar (USA), Scott Lindgren (USA), and Herbert Rittlinger (Germany). For Pioneer, the nominees are Bart Hauthaway (USA), Carl Luther (Germany), and Jim Snyder (USA). The nominees for the Advocate category are Bill Endicott (USA), Kay Henry (USA), Tom Johnson (USA), Dave Kurtz (USA), Martin Litton (USA), and Joe Pulliam (USA). For the Champion category, the nominees are Andy Bridge (USA), Dana Chladek (USA), Giesala Grothaus-Steigerwald (Germany), Cathy Hearn (USA), Jamie McEwan (USA), and Scott Shipley (USA).
Induction of the newest class into the Hall of Fame will take place on Friday, October 20 at a dinner and ceremony at the WISP in McHenry, Maryland. Post-induction festivities will continue on October 21 at the site of the artificial whitewater course in McHenry currently under construction by the Adventure Sports Center International (ASCI). The post-induction festivities will include a party for the whitewater community and a sneak pre-opening peek of the whitewater course (opening spring 2007).
