The 2009 2nd Annual NOC Shootout was simply the most amazing display of kayaking skill I have ever witnessed! No Joke… watching the final rides of the Men’s Pro K-1 class was astonishing and mesmerizing!!! If you were not there at the event you can not even begin to appreciate the words I am trying [...]
The 61st Annual FIBArK (First In Boating the Arkansas) Festival has already kicked off here in Salida, CO with live musics, movie premiers and feverish practicing from kayakers of all disciplines. Salida plays host this year to the USA Wildwater National Championships as well as a dozen other kayaking events.
Tomorrow starts the competition with Wildwater [...]
Event Coverage on WKTV will continue during the weekend of June 18-21 during the 61st Annual FIBArk River Festival. Until then…
Men’s Freestyle Results
1. Stephen Wright
2. Nick Troutman
3. Dustin Urban
4. Casper VonKolmf
5. Andrew Holcombe
Women’s Freestyle Results
1. Emily Jackson
2. Tanya Faux
3. Ruth Gordon
4. Nicole Mansfield
5. Devon Barker
The preliminaries for the Pro Freestyle kicked off today around 1:00 PM with 44 competitors in the men class and 16 women. As with most preliminary competitions the majority of the rides were conservative where competitors were given 2 rides with their points from both combine to determine who moved on. The top 15 of [...]
Unlike the last couple of weeks, the skies were blue and cloudless… that was until predictably the rain clouds organized around 2:30. Fortunately the race was over at that point, so competitors were treated to 70 deg temperatures and sunny skies whereas last year it was raining and sleeting.
Last year was one of the most [...]
The weekend of June 5 through 7th will feature our next broadcast of WKtv. With H2oDreams’ Chris Wing at the helm again with the H2oNation gang (various fools and their frollic, superstars, clingons and many more kayak oriented vagabonds)… the coverage begins with the Freestyle event on Friday (great work viewing) and on Saturday for [...]
A few surprises occurred in the US Team Trials Semi and Finals today. Competition kicked off once again at 9:00 AM promptly, highly unlike kayakers. The top 5 men, top 3 women, top 3 jr men, top 2 jr women, top 2 OC-1 were decided through an amazingly close competition and included some major upsets [...]
I just checked Boatertalk and I believe the lack of comments deems it a success, The one comment of the nice video was very nice as well. We kicked of the official launch of World Kayak TV today during the preliminary round of the US Team Trials.
World Kayak brought in a total of 8300 viewers [...]
Starting Saturday, May 30th, 2009 World Kayak, H2oDreams (Chris Wing) and Elevation Lifestyle Network will be coordinating to bring you the full US Team Trials LIVE via the web. World Kayak and Chris Wing will be streaming LIVE from the rocks in Glenwood Springs Colorado as the hopefuls in all divisions take to the wave. [...]
The Reno River Festival Invitational was not nearly as long winded as the Open event yesterday. However, a few of the competitors from yesterday faired very well among the dominant freestylers in the sport. Erin Clancy, came out and placed in the top five after working her way through the Open event yesterday and then [...]
The format for the men’s and women’s competition on Friday was a combined two heats to move on to the next round where the finals would be a knockout series. The Reno River Festival saw recors numbers not only in attendance but in number of boaters entering the competition. The competition was stiff throughout the [...]
Cameras are rolling and we are tabulating the scores at the Reno River Festival… more video and updates are on the way. Coverage starts Saturday!
The 2009 Reno River Festival will covered top to bottom by World Kayak and Chris Wing (H20 Dreamin). The coverage begins Friday, May 8 with the Open competition and will continue on through the entire weekend with full coverage of the Pro event. This will be the FIRST ever ‘Almost Live’ coverage of a Freestyle [...]
While Chris Wing and I were off boating on the Cheoah Saturday; my good friend, Andrew Bentley from Elizabethton, TN, was live at the 13th Annual GNAR Race to report for World Kayak. Below is his full story:
Pat Keller was the 2008 Green River Narrows race overall winner this past Saturday with a time of 4:31. [...]
Saturday, August 31st (Yep, I am a week late writing this. My appologies, regular work kinda got in the way.) was 2008 Canada Cup and the second part of the North American and Junior CanAm Freestyle competition.
The event was put on by Wilderness tours on the Ottawa River as a follow-up to the Blackwater Challenge [...]
I just returned to Charlotte from rainy Western NC from this weekends NOC/Dagger Shootout. It was a great display of what this area can offer as an event venue and the overall response from both competitors and spectators was positive with some constructive feedback. Let’s just say that rodeo is back in Western North Carolina! [...]
Yesterday morning started with a bit of apprehension, apprehension that any organizer would have with their first major event. Daniel Dutton informed me that around 8:00 AM that there were only 16 competitors registered for the event, but that he was anticipating at least ten more. Not so surprising to me, the event [...]
The Midwest Freestyle Championships were last weekend in Wausau Wisconsin. I was there to coach some freestyle clinics and to soak up the Midwest boating scene. Let me tell you they can get things done in Wausau. Not only was the event a great time and a huge success, but the off water events were [...]
I was out at NOC last week meeting with the event organizers and recruiting photographers for the event as well as catching up with old friends. I had the chance to sit own with Daniel Dutton the event organizer and ask him a few questions. For full event details click here. I [...]
First Day of Team Training Slots for all Teams. This means that because there are 35 teams competing and only 24 hours in a day, each team only gets official training one hour, every other day! The time slots begin at 8am and end at 7pm. This means that before 8am is open and after [...]
The strengths of the Potomac Festival are its overall inclusion of paddlers of all abilities as opposed to showcasing only the elite such as other big sponsor events. I am not saying those events do not have their place, I am only saying that events like the Potomac have theirs as well.
Yesterday’s freestyle event [...]
Temperatures hovered in the mid 90’s with high humidity in classic D.C. fashion. However, the mid-atlantic region wasn’t the only thing bringing the heat as Jason Beakes, Jeff Calhoun and Danny Stock, local residents, scorched the course during the 2008 Potomac Festival and Great Falls Race.
Water levels sprung up from rains earlier this week bringing [...]
I will have the full write up and summary of my two weeks in Colorado in the next day. I would like to say to the individual(s) who stole the cameras from the BLM campground that we WILL FIND YOU! And of course if we don’t, you have some bad juju on you [...]
Nick Troutman wants to be the U.S. National Champion. There is only one problem with that; he’s not from the United States. However he is currently holding the second position in the Blue Paddle FIBArk Freestyle that is doubling as the U.S. National Championships.
After Day 1 of freestyle action we narrowed the Men’s [...]
There must be something about extreme racing and inclement weather, because today during the Pine Creek Boater X it was no different. The temperature dipped down into the lower 40’s with wind gusts of 50-60 mph and snowflakes were seen briefly at times. At one point during the race a deer was spotted [...]
Colorado has the unique ability to astonish you around every bend, unless of course you don’t like nature, the outdoors or people who are legitimately happy with their dispositions. So if any of that does not apply to you, then I am really confused as to why you are even reading this write up or [...]
inal Results for the Downriver Sprint were as follows:
1.Tao Berman
2. Jeff Calhoun
3. Jason Beakes
The 8-Ball Race takes place today which should prove to be absolutely entertaining as a normal boater-x will be taken to the next level. Imagine American Gladiators on the water. Hobie promised that this year will live up to its reputation from [...]
Not much more to say other than Dustin Urban is bomber under pressure. Facing a score of 158 that EJ put up in his second ride, Dustin had one more ride to go. After splashing a bit of water in his face and looking over to his wife Katie he road into the [...]
I sat next to Andrew Holcombe this morning after the conclusion of the Downriver Sprint on Gore Creek not realizing he had just finished. He looked surprisingly fresh and dry considering he just sprinted 3 miles downstream through class II-III. “It’s 20 minutes of absolute pain,” Holcombe said. “I will be just [...]
That’s right, I said it! I believe freestyle, especially the kind where you are taking timed runs in frigid water at elevation causing mild hypoxia is nothing more than a demonstration in controlled drowning! And I am convinced that many of todays competitors would quickly agree.
After a brutal day of weather yesterday during the Homestake [...]
The Homestake Creek Race takes place on the class V Homestake Creek in Red Cliff Colorado. This race had its humble beginnings when Ken “Hobie” Hoeve, Dagger Product Manager, decided to have a race on one of his back yard creeks. The incentive to bring boaters out and participate, a keg of beer. This race [...]
I arrived in Vail yesterday, June 2, in the later afternoon after making the drive west for two days. The little 88′ Toyota truck has served me well once again forever proving that they are the greatest vehicles ever made! Being road weary and ready to stretch out a bit and get some much needed [...]
Guess what. The sun was shinin’ again in Reno. Biiiiig surprise! After a well behaved evening of Reno frivolity (dinner at a cool Spanish place and blackjack with EJ) I was suprisingly well rested for the day. Day 3, the final day was boatercross. With the Truckee river set at [...]
Ohhhh baby, sun up we were on #5 and Colin was trying to teach me how to loop… er… I see the move in my head, just got to transfer it from the head, to the arms, paddle and body. Not so good at the loop my friends, even though the kiddies from Reno [...]
Ok, Day 1 on the Truckee River in downtown Reno saw my first tour of the river from both a playboating and whitewater development stand point… this is an amazing class II river run with top of the line play spots… two standing out (#3 and #5), both are shallow holes with great retention. Both [...]
Day minus one in Reno… well, Nevada… cause today was not tooo much about Reno. It seems the town of Reno is ready for James. Got here at, like, 1:30 am EST… after an epic day of travel, too much rain in Chicago made the metal birds go boing. Luckily Bruce (said with a nice [...]
OK,
With Chris Wing out due to his work schedule and such, looks like I’ve got a ball to pick up… covering the Reno Riuver Festival. Many of you may not have remembered my first foree into event coverage. I used to post as POLLO on Boatertalk and set up full coverage of the World’s (Ottawa, Australia, [...]
NBC cameras were rolling today as they did some pre-race interviews. They asked me a lot of questions about things like, “how is it to compete with your daughter” and some Jackson Kayak questions, and , of course, as a former Olympian, how do you feel about this race. Well, it did get me thinking, [...]
This is the 4th NAWF, and this year with high water, thanks to both rain and North Alabama mountain snowmelt! The organizers have done a great job in putting music to the river, bringing in lots of great sponsors and vendors, and plenty of kayaking, of course.
Yesterday was the Short Creek part of the event [...]
We all woke up Saturday morning to a dusting of snow and temperatures near 20 degrees which if your from the Midwest or Canada you shrug off as a warm early spring day. However, we are in North Alabama and most down here have only seen snow five or six times in their lives. So [...]
Greetings from chilly Alabama. The first day of competition went off without a hitch and provided some entertainment as well. With the recent rain that the Southeast has been receiving, Short Creek was stomping today and provided us with some big tricks as well as quality beatings. Andrew Holcombe and Nick Troutman [...]
We are just two days away from the start of the 2008 Pro Circuit where Guntersville, Alabama plays host to the North Alabama Whitewater Festival on Short Creek and the Locust Fork rivers. Day one’s festivities include a waterfall freestyle and boatercross on Short Creek Falls. On day two, the Locust Fork will [...]
Chris Wing of H2O Dreams has graciously formed a partnership with World Kayak that will bring all of us full web coverage of many of North America’s biggest events. Touring with the pro paddling circuit will allow Chris to bring full coverage… text descriptions, interviews, articles of interest, results and much more will be [...]
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