World Kayak Event Coverage

This year, Colin suggested to me that I bring something new from World Kayak to the Seaway Valley : A Slalom Survivor Series.

I have got to be honest with you. At first I was skeptical. I did not think that a bunch of playboaters and river runners would enjoy gates.

Man was I wrong!!!!!!

At 6:30 this evening, with the help of my family and friends at CReW, we gathered up a group of paddlers at the Riviere St-Charles in Valleyfield. The race course that we set up involved punching a couple holes, running a series of 5 gate and carrying out a series of challenges along the way. (At one locations we had a volunteers sit with a basket ball and play catch with the paddlers. Spins (3 flat spins in an without getting dizzy…) were also the order of the day in an eddy after crossing through the gate. A must make front surf and ferry at the 3/4 mark and an optional hand roll at the end. The course would take from 2 to 4 minutes.

After the last registrations we had 10 paddlers sign up for this first event:) I was totally blown away at the end by the smiles and laughter of the participants and the cheers and encouragement from spectators and fellow competitors. It was awesome.

When the race was completed we invited the paddlers to run the race again but this time pick a partner and race in one of our Dynamic Duos. This too was a hit. Running gates and making eddy turns in the duo is a snap but it takes some getting used to at first. We had 2 entries and 2 others groups that wanted to demo the Duos but not race them. The next go around we might end up with a complete class for the Duos. I might need more boats!

The results were as follows:(all times are in minutes:seconds)

Zachary         02:07
Sebastien      02:12
Robert           02:25
Aime-Jean     02:30
Cheryl           02:32
Maxime         02:32
Sylvie            02:39
Emily            02:50
Julie              03:05

In the Duos:

Rob and Maude             02:37
Julie and Sebastien        02:55
Aime-Jean and Martin   No time counted
Sylvie and Cheryl          No time counted

All the participants walked away from the event with a nice prize from our sponsors too. Thanks guys.

At the end of the evening we touched base with the local slalom club (Some were watching) and we will be seeing them at the next event! The feedback was great the weather was great and the smiles on everyone involved has assured me that the Slalom Survivor Series will grow and is definitely here to stay. Who hoo!!!!!!

I am truly sorry, I had soo much fun putting on this event that I forgot to take pictures. (Will do better next time)

Our next event in the Seaway Valley will be our first Hometown Throwdown of the year. A freestyle event on Manic at the Riviere St-Charles in Valleyfield, Quebec. (June 6th 2009. The event may have to be moved to the 7th. More info on this shortly)

So we are off to a great start here in the Seaway Valley.

Thanks to all the participants from tonight and looking forward to seeing a whole lot more activity in the events planned throughout June, July and August.

See you on the river!

Robert Zwanenburg