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Photo by Drew Fleming Dustin Knapp of Jacksonville won the freestyle portion of Oregon Freestyle Kayaking Championships Sunday in Gold Hill. These kayakers love big water Sprint winner demonstrates his words: `It's good to be different' By CHRIS BRISTOL GOLD HILL -- For a guy who intentionally dove his kayak over a 98-foot waterfall five weeks ago, Tao Berman looks mentally fit. He also looks physically fit, and he proved it Sunday by winning the head-to-head downriver sprint at the Oregon Freestyle Kayaking Championships. The two-day event was held at Nugget Falls just east of Gold Hill on the Rogue River. Rusty Sage of Colma, Calif., shows his style during Sunday's kayaking competition in Gold Hill. Sage came in fourth in freestyle. Tao Berman of Ashland won the downriver sprint. Afterward, the 20-year-old pro from Ashland couldn't help talking about his big drop last month at Banff National Park in Canada, which he says broke his own Guinness world record by 15 feet and four inches. "If everybody wanted you to stick to things up their alley," he explained, "the world would be a dull place." "It's good to be different," chimed in Brandon Knapp, a 23-year-old pro from Jacksonville and member of the U.S. Freestyle Team who photographed Berman's jump for proof. Knapp also organized the competition, which attracted 49 kayakers from around the region in search of rare prize money. Knapp's brother, Dustin, won the freestyle competition. He and Berman took home first-place checks for $440, courtesy of McKenzie Outfitters and radio stations KTMT and KBOY. Plenty of amateurs competed as well. Among them was Eric Hansen, a 25-year-old freelance writer from Williams who took up the sport only a few years ago and stuck around Sunday to watch. "It's all the river, the flow of the river," he said, explaining the kayaker's creed of "big drops and clean rivers." Despite the lure of booty, Berman said the competition was friendly. The sport may be growing in popularity, but kayakers are still a relatively tight-knit community. "Even though we're all really, really competitive, we're all friends, too," he said. "You need friends to go paddling with." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA