RIVER RAFTING -- Talk about self-sacrifice.

Above you see some of the two-dozen people who selflessly volunteered to play the role of "clients" in a Peak 7 Adventures rafting guide training course on the Spokane River on Sunday.

The student guides (not shown) had less than two weeks of training, but as you can see, these "subjects" had nearly total faith on a dim, cloudy day that the fledgling skippers had just enough expertise to get them down the Spokane River -- which was roaring at about 25,000 cfs -- without any mishaps or frightening immersion in the frigid water.

They were right.

Bring on the real clients!