ISSUED: 24 August 2016
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — Shepherd University’s Team River Runner (TRR) Team Ram Rod kayak football team won the national championship at the Veterans Kayak Football HOF Challenge August 7 at Willowdale Lake Country Club in North Canton, Ohio. Members of Team Ram Rod came home with the coveted trophy—a small football attached to a Styrofoam pedestal ornamented with a tiny kayak paddle and sprayed with gold paint.
TRR kayak football teams have five members who are wounded veterans, active duty service members, family members, or other community supporters. The games take place in a space the size of an Olympic swimming pool and combine kayaking skills with those of football, water polo, and hockey. Each half lasts five to ten minutes with a short break in between.
Team River Runner-Shepherd is the first and only chapter in West Virginia, established in April 2013 by a team of instructors, outfitters, volunteers, and supporters from Shepherd, the community, and the VA Medical Center in Martinsburg. For more information about TRR-Shepherd, visit www.shepherd.edu/veterans/trr-shepherd.
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