P A D D L E R P r O f i l e
China sydrome: ford in Beijing at his fifth Olympics.
Photo Kent FoRD
the futuRe is fRiendly
KeNt fOrD LOOKS TO THE LOWER CLASSES FOR GROWTH
KeNt fOrD’s involvement in whitewater boards. At the Sydney Olympics in 2002 I used a quality of life mean your bank account or the
reaches back to the late 1970s and early ‘80s wireless mic to speak to the audience of 10,000 amount of time you spend on the river? I think the
when he won multiple national and world while manoeuvring through the gates of the race river is going to win every time. It certainly does
championships in C1 slalom. it’s his more than course. I memorized snippets of whitewater sla- for myself. I think participation will become more
20 years of coaching, teaching and whitewater lom history and facts so that I could talk on auto- grounded, if not grow.
advocacy since then, however, that prompted pilot while focusing on paddling. I wasn’t able to
ford’s recent induction into the international do that at Beijing last year because the whitewa-
What are some of the directions you see
Whitewater hall of fame. ter was really too tough to do two things at once.
whitewater paddling taking in the next five
these days, ford is as busy as ever produc-
years?
ing media for Performance Video, an outdoor
What do you think are some of the most
We’ll see more efforts to bridge the gap between
sports production company through which he
pressing issues in whitewater paddling
flatwater and river paddling. We might see inter-
has released 18 educational videos and books
right now?
est from kayak anglers or families and kids taking
since 1990, influencing the instruction of half
Paddlesports as a whole needs to figure out a to class I and II rivers. I’m all for running the gnar,
a million paddlers. Rapid caught up with ford
way to create a really big umbrella that covers hardcore freestyle, slalom, squirt paddling and
to pick his brains about the future of our sport
everyone’s interests. Even within the specializa- other niches but I think we need, and are going,
and life as a hall of famer.
tion of whitewater we have an incredible spec- to become more inclusive.
trum of experiences from steep creeking to family
how does it feel to be in the hall of fame?
float trips to class III fun. Too often our sole image
What are some of your current and upcoming
It’s an incredible honour. Lots of people deserve is some hairboater dropping a gnarly waterfall.
projects?
to be in the Hall of Fame but they don’t travel or We need class I or II boaters to thrive more in the
I’m releasing a film called The Call of the River
aren’t as visible outside their communities as I whitewater community. It’s an attitude adjustment:
this spring. It’s a historical documentary focus-
have been. I think people will feel more welcome if we can
ing on how whitewater sports evolved in the
be more accepting and eliminate this pressure to
United States. It’s quite a robust project that has
tell us about serving as the public address
always run bigger stuff.
been a couple of years in the making. Another
announcer at the Olympic Games.
much smaller project is an instructional video
I’ve had a crazy streak of working the last five how do you think the current economic re- for kids called Paddlemonsters that will be avail-
Olympics as a presentation manager—educating cession will affect whitewater participation? able in June. —V.M.
the spectators and arranging music and score- Society is reevaluating quality of life issues. Does
1 Rapid early summer 2009
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48