Aspen-, Frisco-based U.S. Men’s National Rafting Team prepares for Rafting U.S. Open

In 2022, Colorado watched the Avalanche win the Stanley cup. In 2023, it was the Nuggets who brought home a title for the state. 

In 2025, it may be Colorado’s own Riff Raft Racing team bringing home national hardware. 

Riff Raft Racing is the Colorado-based U.S. Men’s National Whitewater Rafting Team. Its founding members formed the team in the Roaring Fork Valley in 2015, and it has since grown to six members across the Western Slope and Front Range. In September, they will be going to California to compete in the Rafting U.S. Open to defend their national title. 

“We’re really trying to beat the Californians again,” says Riff Raft paddler Kenny Beauchamp. “I hope that people will take a little local pride in it. We have great paddlers in Colorado, and we’re trying to represent.”

The team is comprised of Roaring Fork-based Conrad Niven, Trevor Fredrickson, Tyler Aikens, and Taylor Norman. A Front-Range continent based out of Summit county includes Stone Romero and Beauchamp.

The winning team in the Open earns the title of U.S. Men’s National Rafting Team and would represent the country in the Argentina World Championship, competing against national teams from across the globe. 

 Whitewater rafting races can range from sprints of less than a mile to marathons of 26 miles or more. Races vary in technicality and sometimes have slalom gate features that rafters need to maneuver around, lest they get hit with a large time penalty. 

The Riff Raft team was brought together by the annual Roaring Fork Valley Slaughterhouse Race, held annually in class four rapids between Aspen and Woody Creek.

“When we go to local competitions, you know, we compete against raft guides,” said Beauchamp. “It’s a lot of fun. It’s more of a community event. It’s kind of like a well-organized practice. World Championships are like stout competitions.”

The team’s evolution since 2015 has led it to numerous victories, according to the team’s website, including a 2023 U.S. Rafting Association National Championship. In 2024, Riff Raft took this championship again in Oregon. They are looking to defend that title this September on the Trinity River in California. 

To practice, the rafters generally get together once a week to paddle local rapids like Slaughterhouse and others in the Roaring Fork Valley. The Summit-based members typically paddle rapids in and around Buena Vista. 

According to Beauchamp, the boaters actually get a little bit of a break in the rapids during competitions — the hardest work kicks in during the flat sections.

“We actually can chill in the rapids a little bit because you’re not going to paddle much faster than the river’s going anyway, and you’re trying to get through the rapids with precision,” he said. “But once you’re in those flat stretches in between the rapids, that’s where the races are won and lost, that’s where you’re sprinting.”

Because of their familiarity with each other, competitive rafting doesn’t function like recreational, guided rafting, where a leader calls for specific row-counts from the boat as they move down the river. Instead, the captain will make more general callouts about where they’d like the raft positioned in incoming rapids. 

The leader in races can change from river to river, depending on team members’ familiarity with a given section.

As for the fitness required, Beauchamp says competitive rafting is as strenuous as it gets. 

“This level is insane,” he said. “It’s a full-body workout. Sometimes it’s a quick sprint, but sometimes, it’s a full-body workout for two hours straight. Either way, it’s hard on the body, so we train for it. We train like any other professional athletes.”

For more information on the team and to keep up with their activities through the summer and leading to the U.S. Open, check out their website at riffraftracing.com.