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Brad Ludden sets the date for the First Descents’ Ball

Hey there, I hope this finds you doing well and enjoying the first signs of spring.  When the snow starts to melt that means 2 things.  

1. It’s about time to kayak

2. It’s time to get ready for the First Descents’ Ball at the Ritz Carlton Bachelor Gulch . 

This year the Ball will be held on the 11th of April.  I have included the link to our online invite.  Please check it out and attend if you can.  If you know someone who you think might want to attend, please forward this to them. Thank you and see you there with your best hat!

Brad

 

INVITE:

http://www.firstdescents.org/cms/Giving/FirstDescentsBall/tabid/120/Default.aspx

 

 

First Descents provides whitewater kayaking and other outdoor adventure experiences to promote emotional, psychological and physical healing for young adults with cancer.

 

 

Last year Joe Jacoby posted a nice blog regarding Brad. We at Snap Dragon thought it was worth repeating:

PaddleStrong

In the mid 1990s, a junior kayaker named Brad Ludden from Montana would regularly travel with his family to Idaho’s Payette River during the summer time. On one such occasion, I had the opportunity to coach Brad during a national-level competition. The Olympic side of kayaking tends to quickly “size up” young athletes for their potential to be top performers on an international stage. From that standpoint, Brad had all skills you look for in a blue-chip competitor and the potential to go as far as he wanted to go in the world of Whitewater Slalom racing – World Cups, World Championships, even the Olympic Games. But Brad did better – he did none of the above.

From a very young age, Brad was one those people who was “wise beyond his years” and no matter how well he could paddle, you knew he was headed for bigger and better things. Polite, grounded, humble, and connective – the words that fit Brad then still fit him now. Using these qualities, he started “First Descents” in 2001 as a way to promote healing through kayaking for young adults with cancer. Seven years, later, Brad and a passionate group of friends and family have grown First Descents into one of the most significant and impacting kayak programs in the world. In each of this year’s nine sessions in four states, First Descents participants will immerse themselves in the outdoors and gain new perspective on life.

Christian Knight was fortunate enough to accompany a First Descents outing and writes a fabulous article about his experience in the latest issue of Paddler Magazine – take a look at:

http://www.paddlermagazine.com/issues/2008-2/article_.shtml

The work Lance Armstrong has achieved for cancer patients and research is nothing short of amazing. Better yet, the platform for getting this work done was built upon Lance’s success on a bicycle. You can’t do much better than that – applying your world-class talent and passion for doing favorite activity into your life’s most important work for the benefit of others. Nicely done, Brad.

For more information about First Descents, please visit their web site:

http://www.firstdescents.org/

This entry was posted on Monday, March 9th, 2009 at 12:10 pm and is filed under Blogroll. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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