The sounds of jet skis whizzing by on the Kanawha River filled the air Saturday afternoon at Magic Island, and other niche sports were eager to ride the waves and cultivate their fanbases.
SportsFEST returned for its eighth year in Charleston this weekend, hosting hundreds of athletes in sports such as jet skiing, beach volleyball, disc golf, grappling and ultimate frisbee.
SportsFEST's anchor is the Pro Watercross national championships, bringing around 125 jet skiers to Charleston for the last stop before its world championships in November.
"It's a great venue, and the city loves the event, so it's a win-win for both of us," said AJ Handler, CEO of Pro Watercross.
Handler said with SportsFEST expanding to other sports - "Smashy Ball," stand-up paddle boarding and the two-mile swim are 2017 newcomers - it garners more attention that can benefit all the featured sports outside the mainstream.
Evan Young, co-owner of Appalachian Boarding Company, said closed-course stand-up paddle board races will be held Sunday morning using Pro Watercross's buoy course, a rarity in the Mountain State.
"It's awesome for stand-up paddle boarding because you can really carve around the turns," Young said. "In essence, I feel a paddle board could feel like a high-performance kayak in a race like this."
The race will act as a precursor to the annual "New River Gorge SUP Race" held Sept. 17, according to Young. He said he expects roughly 12 participants to give the Kanawha River race a shot. Every sport has to start somewhere.
"You pop up a race like this in Florida, you'll get 50 people on a Tuesday," he said. "In West Virginia, we're getting there. We're just getting racing going around here."
Sowing the seeds for an expanded paddle boarding community in West Virginia is an important mission to combat obesity and drug abuse, Young said, and the SportsFEST race can only help.
"We're putting our whole hearts into it," he said. "This is promising, especially since we don't have the resources to set up this incredible buoy track, but Pro Watercross does. It's a match made in heaven."
The EVP Beach Volleyball Tour, although not as entrenched in Charleston as Pro Watercross is, has had a notable presence in the past five SportsFEST events, according to Bradley Gadek, the tour's general manager of volleyball operations. The teams who finish first and second at its SportsFEST event receive a bid to compete in its championship held in Virginia.
A sunny day and receptive crowd Saturday made for a strong atmosphere for the tour's competitors, Gadek said.
Gadek said on a national level, beach volleyball is "growing like crazy" with the help of the Olympics and the rise of club sports.
"We hope [beach volleyball] gets out to the level of football and baseball, where people are playing pickup games in their backyard and coming out and joining the tour," he said.
SportsFEST also provided an opportunity for the Kanawha Valley Disc Golf Club to continue its momentum in Charleston, according to Steve Koepsel, the club's president. It held a putting competition Saturday to get people familiar with the sport.
"It's a way to get attention, we can grab some people and say, 'Hey, do you know about disc golf?'" he said.
SportsFEST continues Sunday featuring more competition from the EVP Beach Volleyball Tour, Pro Watercross National Championship beginning in the morning and ultimate frisbee games scheduled in the afternoon. Spectators can view all the events free of charge.
Reach Max Garland at max.garland@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4886 or follow @MaxGarlandTypes on Twitter.