Partners and Sponsors
Our Sponsors
The USRA is a volunteer-run 501(c)(3). The organisations below back this sport with equipment, expertise and opportunity for young paddlers — and we are grateful to every one of them.
SOTAR — State of the Art Rafts
Official Raft Provider & Sponsor
SOTAR has been building custom whitewater craft by hand in Merlin, Oregon since 1980, when Glenn Lewman started the company in a Grants Pass garage. Today the firm builds rafts, catarafts and inflatable kayaks for outfitters, guides and paddlers worldwide, and is carried on by Jeremiah and Rachel Lewman and the SOTAR team.
SOTAR supplies the R4 race fleet for the USRA National Championships, putting American-built, hand-crafted boats under our national-team hopefuls. Thank you for your generous support of the USRA.
The River Store
Sponsor
Founded in 1994 by Dan Crandall, The River Store in Lotus, California sits on the banks of the South Fork American — the river that hosts our National Championships. It is a full-service paddle sports outfitter carrying kayaks, rafts, SUPs and river gear, with rentals, demos, expert repairs and one of the best-regarded whitewater instruction programmes in the state.
For more than thirty years it has been the gathering point for the paddling community on the South Fork. Thank you for your generous support of the USRA.
Junior Guides
Sponsor — Youth Development
Junior Guides is a 501(c)(3) non-profit running three-day whitewater camps for children aged 6–16 on the South Fork American at Coloma, California. Founded in 2010 by Sarah Canfield and her late husband Spencer Rubin — both guides for Whitewater Voyages in the 1990s — the camp is now in its sixteenth year and has introduced more than 500 young people to rivers.
Its programme is built on leadership, environmental stewardship, teamwork and adventure — the same foundation the USRA relies on to build the youth pathway in this sport. Thank you for your generous support of the USRA.
American Canoe Association
Insurance Provider
Founded on the shores of Lake George in 1880 by twenty-four charter members, the American Canoe Association is the oldest and largest paddlesports organisation in the United States, with over 15,000 members and more than 300 clubs and affiliate organisations. Since 2017 it has served as the National Governing Body for paddlesports to the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee and as the US National Federation to the International Canoe Federation.
The ACA insures hundreds of events and races every year, and provides the event insurance under which the USRA National Championships are run. Every athlete racing under USRA sanction holds ACA membership. Thank you for your generous support of the USRA.