World Kayak Event Coverage

The fourth and final event in our Hometown Throwdown series was our largest and most fun event this season. The August event was held at Big Rock in conjunction with the Noli Spash event!  The weather for the event started out with mostly cloudy skies and temps in the mid 70s.  With the lower than [...]

Boise’s final Hometown Throwdown of the year was a great finish to the series. We even had a special guest appearance by Reno Jackson paddler Sage Donnelly. If you haven’t had the pleasure of meeting this little gal, you are missing out – she is personality-plus!   (and a great little paddler!)
Seth Stoenner owned [...]

A lot has been happening in Western Canada since we last posted.  We hosted a double header Throwdown/Survivor Slalom event in Chilliwack, BC and two youth camps in Alberta and the Northwest Territories.
Northern Youth Camp – Fort Smith, Northwest Territories

Kiddies Having Fun

Surfing it up at Playground Rapid on the Slave River

Chilliwack Cup #2

Event Results

Event Name: [...]

The Riversport Ramcat Slalom
On Sunday, August 23, almost 60 participants took part in the Riversport Ramcat Slalom, a traditional slalom race held in the Ramcat Rapid of the Middle Yough. The course featured 21 gates requiring racers to travel both up and downstream, back and forth across the river a number of times, with the [...]

Sunday August 23rd – Riviere St-Charles, Salaberry-De-Valleyfield, Quebec.
All summer we have been fortunate to be able to host a series of Freestyle events for World Kayak here in the Seaway Valley. Each event turned up new paddlers willing to give competitive kayaking a chance and show what they could do on the features of the [...]

The third event in our Hometown Throwdown series was once again some big boomin’ fun at Big Rock!  The weather for the event was another perfect partly cloudy day with temps in the low 80s and a nice mild water temperature.  The hole was much more retentive at this event with the lower river level [...]

Boise’s 4th Throwdown was held under clear skies and a comfortable 80 degrees (usually hovering around 100 right now!) We had a ton of spectators at this event, which made it even more fun.
The crew from Cascade Raft showed up again and our slew of youth. Our friend and long time paddler Willard dedcided not [...]

CBC News
After shelving the project more than 20 years ago, industry is once again looking at hydro development on the Slave River on the N.W.T.- Alberta border.   Click here to read the article.
Slave River Paddle Fest – hosted on the August long weekend this event was one of the best ever!  Warm water, gentle play [...]

After negotiating the struggles that come with hosting our Hometown Throwdowns in the local state parks, our third Throwdown, a downriver mass start loop race at the famous Loop section of the Youghiogheny River, went off splendidly. We had fourteen racers and a number of safety boaters, insuring both an exciting and safe adventure down [...]

Valleyfield, Quebec – July 25th – Riviere St-Charles.
Hot Humid, chance of thunders showers. Ahh mid summer weather… The dog days of summer in the Seaway Valley
So the forecast was less than good but the water is warm and everyone in the province of Quebec is on Vacation.  The result: 12 competitors ready to [...]

The second event in our Hometown Throwdown series was more fun than lighting a whole pack of bottle rockets at one time!  The weather for the event was perfectly sunny with temps in the high 80s and a nice mild water temperature.  The river level dropped enough over the past month to allow the event [...]

Another great day in Southern Alberta.  The second World Kayak Throwdown event in Western Canada was held at the Boulder Run on the Oldman River near Pincher Creek.
Supported by High Level Canoes and Kayaks, I spent the day paddling the Highwood River near Longview, Alberta with a few of their staff – Cooper Isaac and [...]

So far I have got to say we have been really lucky! The local weather has been hit and miss but on the evenings of our events the rain gods have smiled upon us:)
Valleyfield, Quebec: Wednesday June 17th – 6:30 PM – Riviere St-Charles.
World Kayak and CReW present another Slalom Survivor event: “Down River Madness [...]

We’re two events into the MD Chute Out season here in DC and both comps have been held at Upper Center Chute Ledge. It’s a small pourover ledge hole, not too wow-inducing but well formed, easy to surf, and safe. It’s actually a great place to hold a freestyle event–you’re out in the middle of the [...]

The day started off with the Slalom Survivor race on the Wilderness Channel at the USNWC, which provided a great course that included a ferry across a drop, a basketball shootout, some back paddling, playing in a whirlpool eddy and the battle for the pink flamingo.
Racers started in the eddy above Entrance Exam rapid [...]

Another awesome weekend on the Chilliwack River! With the second of three World Kayak Throwdowns, this Sunday afternoon was the inaugrual Chilliwack Cup.  The afternoon began with a river run for those interested and was capped by the first of two Chilliwack Cup events hosted at the Pointa Vista Wave.
What are the FUNdamentals behind these World Kayak Throwdowns? It [...]

Friday, June 5th was the scene of our region’s second Hometown Throwdown, the Slippery Rock Giant Slalom. Building upon the downriver mile race that used to exist in years past between McConnell’s Mill and Eckert Bridge on Slippery Rock Creek, this year as the race was revived from history, a new twist was added. In [...]

Saturday June 6th. Riviere St-Charles in Valleyfield, Quebec.
Our first regional throwdown took place on a beautiful summy day in Valleyfield.
The day started with a volunteer effort in conjunction with the Valleyfield Kayak Club (CEEVV). The section of river that we are all privileged to play in is unfortunately also subject to vandalism… So there are [...]

With beautiful weather (80 degree sunny skies) and a near perfect river level / water temp, the first event in the Tri-Cities HTTD series was a great success! Saturday’s (5/30/09) Throwdown was the first organized event of its kind in the Tri-Cities area in over 4 years. Though it was originally planned to be held [...]

Our fifth throwdown of the year was a nice decompression after a weekend full of Reno River Festival craziness!  A bunch of the same faces that were competing in the open event at the river festival were back to their roots throwing their paddles in the air for style and a bunch of other super sweet moves.  [...]

K1-A
1.Luke Riker
2.Eddy Hake
3.Billy Malesky
4.Mario Vargus
5.Chris Wing
6.Colin Kemp
7.Scott Sady
8.Craig Kleckner
9.David Stefan
10.Tyler Martin
11.Jeremy Laucks
12.Noah Fraser
13.Anthony Ghidoss
14.Pete Delasa
15.Andy Tenbrick
16.Cameron Bender
17.Spencer Josef
18.Kyle Hardman
19.Tyler Muntz
20.John Lemay
21.Chris Korbulic
22.Shane Way
23.Bjam1
24.Jesse Carlson
25.Jord Golnic
k1-B
1.Matt Donnelly
2.Robby Liebherr
3.Michael Lindberg
4.Justin Schafer
5.Mark Sachs
6.Brian Tupper
7.Robert Swan
8.Sam Hardt
9.Jake Ament
10.Todd Barber
11.Tim Dowis
K1-W
1.Erin Clancy
2.Jessie Stone
3. Diane Gaydos
4.Jessica Yurtunis
5.Mary Elliot
6.Nicole Mansfield
7.Libby Hamilton
7.Sophia Mulder
7.Anna Bruno
K1-JR
1.Kyle Hall
2.Alec Voorhees
3.Stephen Forester
4.Evan Moore
5.Michael Hates
6.Trevor Lemay
7.Sage Donnelly
7.Hayden Voorhees

For the first time a Boise Throwdown was threatened by bad weather. We have been fortunate and always had sunny weater and reasonable temps. Last night, however, with only an hour to go until showtime we had a huge thunderstorm pass over Horseshoe Bend and pelt us with hail and lots of lightning. But by [...]

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 [...]

World Kayak is happy to announce that the open at this year’s Reno River Festival will be a Hometown Throwdown (HTTD).  The open event will be held on Friday May 8th.  The event will be conducted and scored like all other HTTD’s.  The top three paddlers from the K1-A, K1-W, and K1-JR will be carried [...]

The weather was better than the second throwdown but not as good as the first.  Go figure, spring in the Sierra.  We did have the great honor of having the lowest water level possible.  Even with the low water we had a great turnout.  For the first time the K-1A category was bigger than the [...]

Hometown Throwdown #1 – Stonycreek Rendezvous 4/25/09
The inaugural event for the Confluence/Ohiopyle region’s Hometown Throwdown series was an astounding success, with boaters competing across two separate events.

The first of the events was a boatercross race held Saturday morning at the showers rapid on the Stonycreek Canyon. This event included twenty competitors spread across the advanced, intermediate [...]

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 [...]

[singlepic=1044,320,240,,left]Boise’s last Homtown Throwdown of the season was a great finish to our Throwdown series – hard to believe it’s over for the season. Temps near 80, lots of sun, great contestants and spectators made for an enjoyable evening. Even with school in full swing we had gaggle of kids and several adults ready to [...]

[singlepic=898,320,240,,left]Last night was Boise’s 4th Hometown Throwdown and what a pleasant evening. The weather was sunny, but temps were only in the low 80’s, so even those of us on shore were comfortable. Again the Jr’s out numbered the adults. Thirteen competitors made three rides in the hole, and one scored downriver event. Our youngest [...]

The blistering morning and afternoon sun was over shaded by thunderstorms to close out our HTTD #5 @ the USNWC on August 2.  The weather was extremely hot and humid leading up to the hour of the Throwdown.  We had a total of 38 competitors sign-up to compete for the final event!  However, as soon as we [...]

You know it’s summer in DC when the heat and humidity can’t get much higher and the river can’t get much lower. Nevertheless that did not stop more than 30 people from coming out for the July edition of the MD Chute Out Freestyle competition series–part of the Hometown Throwdown series in 2008.
Here on the [...]

Since our June Hometown Throwdown was canceled due to maintenance on the hydro plant, Thursdays Throwdown was our third. We have added an event on September 11th to make up for the June cancelation.
Weather was outstanding with temps in the mid 90’s and even with many of our regulars on vacation we had 10 juniors [...]

Our HTTD #4 was yet another great success at the USNWC on July 5.  The weather was much more pleasant than event #3.  Temps were in the low 80’s and partly cloudy conditions were nice for a break from the sun.  The whitewater park got a good rain the night before which got the pool [...]

The river level was looking grim, but at the last minute–reprieve! The gauge nudged up to 3.45 feet, which was just high enough to hold the June MD Chute Out at…the MD Chute. Sweet.
Once again the turnout was a pleasant surprise. The crowd was psyched to see Jeremy Laucks back on the east coast after [...]

Our HTTD #3 went down with great success again at the USNWC on June 7.  The Crown Town was blistering hot with temperatures nearing 100 degrees and the water temperature in the ditch was not much better…  Sunscreen, shade, and drinking plenty of fluids were the name of the game!  The well water springs pouring [...]

The community and wave/hole in Columbus Ga are very unique to the South East.  This makes the Throw down tons of fun.  Columbus Ga is one of the five biggest cities in Ga, including Atlanta.  Columbus loves kayakers and has a multi-million dollar whitewater course project they have been working actively on since 1996.  The [...]

Blessed by another perfect Washington DC evening, 28 competitors gathered on the Potomac River last Thursday for the May edition of the Maryland Chute Out Freestyle Series. This was surprisingly good turnout, since the river was at 4.2 feet and thus we were up at Upper Center Ledge. Don’t get me wrong–it’s a good little [...]

Sorry this event coverage is two weeks overdue…  But we did have a blast!
 
Location: Charlotte, NC – USNWC, 2nd drop of the Instructional Channel – AKA “Meltdown”
 

Event #2 grew in participation to 26 competitors!  There was smack talk, window shades & and some awesome showmanship!  Some of the highlights included:
·     Natalie Pickett threw down a [...]

Boise’s 2nd Hometown Throwdown was again greeted by fantastic weather and plenty of water. Temps hit 82 by showtime and life was good. The river was sitting at 7440cfs and this presented a little problem with the entry into the third (and at this level, bottom) wave-hole that required a very determined approach and entry [...]

The third Throwdown was our first event with no snow ,but the levels are dropping so maybe we could use a little more…. however the sun came out and Nova Scotian paddlers were putting on sunscreen for the first time and enjoying much warmer water temperatures. We had several boaters out to their first competition [...]

The first Maryland Chute Out event of the season went off with a bang as we got Center Chute wave at a pretty good level (6.2), with sunny skies and temps in the 70s. New River Academy stopped by and besides killing the wave (Isaac Holden had the high score of the event), they were [...]

We were blessed with some great weather for the first Throwdown of the year in Boise. We had a slew of kids with supportive parents and I had more volunteers than I could use. We were fortunate to have Devon Barker and Michael Leeds as judges! The junior class dominated the event with eight kids [...]

Location: Charlotte, NC – USNWC, 2nd drop of the Instructional Channel – AKA “Meltdown” – 16 competitors and more fun than you can shake a stick at!
Event Competition Results

Event Results

Event Name: Charlotte Throwdown #1
Event Region: Charlotte
Event Date: April 5th, 2008 @ 7:00pm
All times are localized to the event location.

[...]

It snowed again the night before our second Chute Out and I wondered whether it was better to brings my skis to the river instead of my new All Star. Fortunately the winds changed overnight and by 11am it was about 20 degrees celcius warmer than our first event and the atmosphere was even more [...]

Thanks to everyone who braved the nasty storm and helped make it such a fun event for our first WK Throwdown! It is definitely harder to paddle with ice pellets in your face! Big thanks Harold Cox coming all the way from New Brunswick for his first paddle after heart surgery and especially the young [...]