DATE: Friday, July 4, 1997                  TAG: 9707040523

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY JEFF ZEIGLER, CORRESPONDENT 

DATELINE: CAMDEN                            LENGTH:   34 lines

10TH AREA WATER SKI TOURNAMENT WILL OFFER REFLECTIONS OF PAST 9

The River City Ski Club will celebrate the 10th anniversary this weekend of the River City Challenge Water Ski Tournament at Shipyard Landing off N.C. Highway 343 in Camden.

The tournament, which attracts water skiers from several states for the slalom, tricking and jumping events, will start at 8 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. Admission is free.

This year, the club has a display of posters and press clippings from the previous nine tournaments hanging in the log cabin at Shipyard Landing. The club also is planning to display trophies and T-shirts from the first nine events. Randy Keaton, a member of the club, remembered that the first tournament, which was held in August 1988, was plagued by an unwanted visitor.

``There was a tropical storm off the coast of Florida, and the wind blew all weekend. We got the reputation of having a really windy site (wind is the water skiers' enemy). It took a few years to build the tournament because of that,'' Keaton said as he looked at the poster from the tournament.

As a result, the River City Challenge has been held in July ever since, usually right after Independence Day.

The winds of August 1988 were nowhere to be found Tuesday evening as Jennifer Armstrong, who was 6 when the first tournament took place, practiced on the slalom course in a still atmosphere. She will compete this weekend in the Girls III competition. Her parents also will compete. Since the River City Challenge has shed its windy reputation, it now has a family atmosphere.

``We started doing more extra things like a pig pickin' and music after the tournament,'' Keaton said. ``It's a nice place for kids to play in the water and some people even camp out for the weekend.''

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu