By JARED KLINE
West Virgina Public Broadcasting
For the third year in a row, the American Power Boat Association (APBA) hosted its annual Junior North American Championship and Pro Eastern Divisional in Hinton, West Virginia. Boats raced for their chance to participate in a national championship. Participants came from as far away as Georgia and Michigan for the event.
Race scorer Amy Pond is in charge of keeping track of all the finishes, points and recordings. The event itself, the ‘Travis Pond Memorial Regatta,’ was named after her brother who enjoyed the sport and competed in the national championship when he was a child. She says Hinton has been very welcoming to the event.
“This is one of the best races as far as community service that we have,” Pond says, referring to the RVs and radio coverage that was provided. “A lot of times, we’ll just show up in a town and the towns like, ‘oh, there’s race boats on the water,’ and they have no idea.”
Race Director Chris Johnson agreed with Pond’s positive sentiment towards Hinton.
