For those of you who missed Beaver State this year, we missed you. As usual, the contest was lots of fun with a wide and diverse group of competitors. Our normal cast of characters and some new faces from the local area as well as some old and new faces who traveled to come all combined to make it a great contest.
Starting out in the Sportsman Category, Sean Van Hatten came with his A game in Jim Bourke’s Extreme Decathlon. Beth Stanton came up from Chapter 38 in Northern California. Beth is the President of Chapter 38 and was flying Dave Watson’s Super D. Steven Bennett placed 3rd in his Christen Eagle. Steven is a member of the Boise, ID chapter 103. Patrick Lavielle gave Steven a run for his money in his Christen Eagle. Patrick is a Chapter 67 member. Dan Peters came all the way from Colorado to compete in his Pitts S-1E. Kevin Devan, one of our new Chapter 77 members, competed in his Super D. This was Kevin’s first contest after going to camp earlier this spring. And last but certainly not least was Peter Gelinas who was competing for his second time in his Pitts S-1E. Peter is from chapter 67, our neighbors to the North. All the Sportsman competitors had a great time and learned a lot from each other and from the competitors in other categories.
In Intermediate, we had Christopher Branson who took first place. Chris was our CD for this contest and is a fierce competitor in his Pitts S-2B. Rochelle Oslick from Chapter 67 gave Chris some good competition in her Christen Eagle and took 2nd place. Last but again most definitely not least, was Rick Feicht in Bad Yak. Rick is from Chapter 7 in Calgary and brought his Yak 52 all the way down to compete. He also generously gave rides to a few people before the weekend was done.
In the Advanced category, Mac Engh took first place in his Giles G200. Giving Mac a run for his money was our past IAC President, Doug Sowder in his Extra 300L. Doug was a bit of an outsider in this category as he was the only one not flying a Giles. DJ Molny came over from Chapter 12 in Colorado in his Giles G200 and last but again most definitely not least was Phil DeTurck in his G200.
In the Unlimited category we had some interesting competition with Jason Bialek from Chapter 67 in his Yak 55 and Lew Shattuck in his Giles G200. There was barely a hare’s breath between their total scores but Jason came out on top.
We want to be sure to thank and acknowledge the work of Mark Loewen who is amazing at acquiring funds and donations. Mark was able to get donations of a Lightspeed headset, a David Clark headset, and a full set of Hooker Harnesses that were auctioned at the Banquet. The winner of the Lightspeed was Kevin DeVan. The David Clark was Bob Harris, and the Hooker Harness set was Rick Feicht.
Lastly I want to take a minute to say thank you to all the volunteers. There were many from all 6 states that were represented. As all of you know, it’s the volunteers that make our contests successful and such was definitely the case for Beaver State.
If you were not able to attend this year, please put this contest on your list of things not to miss next year. It will be worth your while.
