World Kayak Event Coverage

The days before the 2nd Seaway Valley WK Hometown Throwdown were filled with worries about weather. An increase in storms in the south was casting a shadow on our event and our friendly neighborhood weatherman was predicting lots of rain and cool temps. Not too bad if you are waiting for the creeks to run but if you are planning a competition it is less than desirable.
Well, as we say in the area, if you do not like the weather at the moment just wait a while and it will change. So, when we got up on Saturday morning, we were pleasantly surprised by a warm dry day!
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The turn out for our late season event was excellent.
19 participants ranging between the ages of 10 and 54 registered on site and were all lined up together at 12:55 for the pre-comp meeting.
That is right, for once this writer was not the oldest person to compete. Lee and Maryse had me beat and to add to the special mention Lee is legally blind! We have been paddling a lot with Lee and he is a pleasure to have on the water!

What did we tell our competitors?
It is simple; our judges are looking for people having fun. You would be scored for the same move up to 2 times (after that it is just for the crowd) Some leeway given for moves that flushed. Competitors could choose between 2 features, Bob and Manic and the features were “re-attainable”. If you flushed below the eddy the ride could continue on the next feature down and flatwater moves on the way down were good to go too!
Points are also given for old school paddle stuff, smiles and of course the best crash and burn!

So the competition began with the Ladies.
Cheryl wowed us with a donkey flip on Bob and everyone was surfing, backsurfing, spinning and smiling. The smiles are definitely contagious!
After 3 rides each the women’s scores were as follows:
56 points—–Cheryl McGregor in a red Jackson 06 AllStar (Alexandria, Ontario)
33 points—–Sylvie Lebel in a green Jackson Star (Williamstown, Ontario)
15 points—–Maryse Leblanc Red Jackson Star (Athelstan, Québec)
13 points—–Jennifer Tytula Red Jackson AllStar(Cornwall, Ontario)

Next we moved to the Men’s category:
The action and the variety was good. Loops and air loops (Aime-Jean and Fanch) were the order of the day along with a McNasty from James (wow!!!!), roundhouses, backstabs (yup, that would be me:)), spins, and smiles from some as well!

The final outcome for the men was as follows:
132 points—-Aimé-Jean Lavigne in a green AllStar(Valleyfield, Québec)
85 points—–Fanch Le Pabic in an orange Bliss Stick Rad (Montréal, Québec)
82 points—–Marc-André Goudreau in an orange Pyrhanna 4-Twenty (Valleyfield, Québec)
62 points—–Robert Zwanenburg in a green Jackson Super Star (Williamstown, Ontario)
55 points—–James Golic in an Orange Jackson Superstar (Montréal, Québec)
17 points—–Pièrre-Luc Hénauld in a wavesport Project 52 (Laval, Québec)
11 points—–Lee Finnie in an orange Jackson Super Star (Athelstan, Québec)
8 points——Martin Cayouette in an orange Dagger Crazy 88(Gatineau, Quebec)

And then the highlight of the day: The Juniors!!!!!!
The turnout for the juniors was amazing. 2 girls and 5 boys
We asked the kids where they wanted to compete and quickly sorted them into 2 groups. Those who wanted to compete on Manic and those who wished to do so on mini-wave.
We were delighted to see a variety of stuff from the kids. From loops to retendos, spins, stern stalls below the wave and my personal favorites: the guitar paddle, the tomahawk and even an ode to the guitar smashing from “guitar hero”. Sweet!

The results for the Junior A’s (playing on Manic) were as follows:
45 points—–Zachary Zwanenburg in a black Jackson Shooting Star (Williamstown, Ontario)
28 points—–Aurelie Rondeau in a yellow Wavesport Project 45 (Valleyfield, Québec)
23 points—–Sean Hakvoort in a PINK (who da man!!!!) Jackson AllStar (Avonmore, Ontario)
19 points—–Max Leboeuf in a yellow Jackson Fun11/2 (Montreal, Quebec)

The results for the Junior B’s (playing on Mini-Wave) were as follows:
13 points—–Zachary Hakvoort in a red Jackson 06 AllStar (Avonmore, Ontario)
12 points—–Adam Hakvoort in a blue Liquid Logic CR250 (Avonmore, Quebec)
11 points—–Emily Zwanenburg in an orange Jackson Shooting Star. (Williamstown, Ontario)

After the events we gathered everyone back at the parking lot for the announcement of points and the end of event participation prize.

Everyone who competed went home with something cool thanks to the generous donations from our WK sponsors, and local sponsors including, Base Camp (Pointe-Claire), Atmosphere (Sports Experts in Valleyfield), Jackson Kayaks, H2O Paddles, Level 6, Smith Optics, Kayak Session, Shred Ready, Predator, World Kayak and the Cornwall Recreational Whitewater Club.

19 competitors!!! (Missing in the picture is Marc-Andre as he had to leave in a hurry)
The question of the day is who is the guy in the left hand corner (left side last row). He seems to have just slipped into the picture. Oh well. Welcome to the group dude!

Once everyone had a chance to grab extra stickers and magazines we offered everyone a bonus event: Boater Cross!!
12 people took their boats to the put in ABOVE (a very swirly eddy that keeps paddlers on their toes) manic and bob and when the whistle blew, they jockeyed for position and made their way down the best line, up through gate 6 (always guaranteed to provide a bit of carnage as the eddy is small the gate is tight and the hole below will hold you if you miss the boof.) and down the rest till gate 18)
At the finish line Zachary took first, Fanch second, Max third, Cheryl 4th.
The best carnage went to Martin who was nudged at gate 6 and spent the rest of the race having people boof over him and ride under him.
(After a few comments next years boater cross events will be done in heets of 6 and we will add several more slalom gates to make it more challenging)

The highlights for me:
1- So many kids on the water!
2- Watching parents come out and cheer on their kids. Mary-Jane, Nathalie, and Sylvain joined us from Shore to see how their kids were doing and make a bit of noise.
3- Seeing how much people in the area have progressed, and
4- Watching the community grow and the sport flourish!

So, another Seaway Valley event in Valleyfield Quebec on the Rivière St-Charles.

Thanks to everyone who participated and to our sponsors and volunteers who made it all happen.

See you all on the water soon,

Robert Zwanenburg
www.cornwallwhitewater.com