Slough celebrates 10th anniversary

When Matt and Amanda Webb dug up one of their wheat and barley fields a decade ago in St. John, Wash. they took one mighty roll of the dice with the sport of sprint boat racing.

Ten years later the Webbs, and the community in which they reside, are quite happy with their gamble and the former farm field - now known as Webb's Slough - is the center of the sport.

St. John, now the longest established venue in the sport, will stage two races in the 2016 American Sprint Boat five-race schedule, Saturday, June 18 and Saturday, Aug. 27. It's about a 50-minute drive from Cheney.

"It's working for us," Cheney native and 1997 Cheney High School grad, Amanda Webb said. "We've become very passionate about the sport and creating an awesome place for our fans." Webb's great aunt is Amy Jo Sooy, a former mayor of Cheney.

"There are still struggles in year-10, the same as there were in year one," Webb said. But things have come a long way since July 2007 when the venue hosted its first race. Ever since, race promotion has become both Amanda and Matt's fulltime job.

The Webb's Slough course is a maze of channels and islands where boats producing up to 1,000 horsepower speed from zero to 80 miles-per-hour in just three seconds. Drivers and navigators weave their way through the course hoping to be the quickest in their class.

Prior to staging that first race, the Webbs had never seen a race before, but took the leap of faith anyway.

The races in St. John have attracted a dedicated fan base from all walks of life. They have found the tiny community of just under 600 residents along State Route 23 is a place they love to visit again and again.

Fans of the Slough "Are literally (age) two to 92," Webb said. The male and female demographic, as calculated on the race's Facebook page, are 52 percent female and 48 percent male.

And that was one of the reasons the Webbs got into the racing business.

Delivering a big business boost to a farm community - which like many others has seen some of its vibrancy fade over the years - was one of the benefits the Webbs hoped would be the result.

"People want to come, they are making a vacation out of it, it's very affordable," Webb said. And best of all, "Our fans love the town of St. John and St. John loves our fans."

The race site is along Pleasant Valley Creek. It butts up to the nine-hole St. John Golf and Country Club and the June race will feature a tournament organized by some of the Canadian racers, Webb said.

Many race fans camp for the race in the 450 sites, come in early and stay afterwards, all for a one-day race. "We see everything from the camper that looks like they barely made it to the $250,000 coaches," Webb said.

"I've never seen a sport that creates instant fans like this does," Webb said. Attendees have their choice of getting the grand view from the terraced hillside. Or they can watch from a fence line along the track where they get sprayed by the water shooting from the jet outdrives.

Among the messages Webb would like to promote to both new fans, and those who maybe have not been to the Slough for a few years, is that," It's not the dust bowl it once was."

"Having 10 years of growth on the grass, that to me is the biggest difference," Webb said.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].