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Standing Waves EVENTS
On the Road to Recovery Paddling Festivals See Surging Attendance
Sleepy Palmer Rapids, Ontario, is the left turn sel- dom taken by southern Ontario paddlers on the road to the Ottawa River. This May, however, there was a sign nailed to a post at the right-hand turn, a sign with an arrow pointing left to the Paddler Co- op Boathouse and the site of Rapid’sPalmer Fest. Those paddlers who followed the road less trav- elled found themselves among hundreds of other whitewater kayakers, canoeists, families and friends at Ontario’s largest whitewater paddling festival. At a time when festival attendance in the region has been dropping, Palmer Fest organizers set out to put Palmer Rapids back on the map. “You can paddle the Madawaska River at Palmer Rapids anytime, so we had to give pad- dlers other reasons to come to our festival,” says Rapid publisher Scott MacGregor. The two-day event had paddlers pre-register online for more than 20 different kayak clinics, the Single Blade Symposium for open canoe playboaters and wilderness trippers, and Anna
Levesque’s Girls at Play women’s kayak clinic tour. The weekend also included camping, day- care, a catered dinner, whitewater films, a beer tent and an encore-equipped band. Every major whitewater canoe and kayak brand, plus 19 other retailers and associations were on-site at a time when corporate enthusi- asm for grassroots events had been waning. “The buzz around events had slowed down in the past few years,” says Confluence sales rep Andrew Sterling. “But the traffic in that exhibitor village was great to see. It’s something the industry can build on.”
Later in July, the Gull River Festival continued the momentum with its best-attended weekend in years. “Our volunteers worked extremely hard, but no doubt Palmer Fest gave everyone the warm fuzzies again about festivals,” says event organizer Gary George. “It’s good to see. Festivals are just about coming together camp- ing, paddling and hanging out.”
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National Slalom Team Trials Slalom Paddlers Coming Up Short—Happily
There was a little less Kevlar thumping off the rocks in front of the Madawaska Kanu Centre this May when 89 paddlers vied for spots on Canada’s slalom team.
Most of the composite boats threading the red and green gates reflected the new ICF rules allowing kayaks and C1s to now be as short as 3.5 metres instead of 4 metres.
The retirement of 10-time national champion Margaret Langford freed up enough room for Ontario’s Sarah Boudens to regain her spot on the women’s team. Though B.C.’s David Ford continued his dominance of
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K1 Men: David Ford, Mike Holroyd, Nathan Davis K1 Women: Jen Gratto, Saskia van Mourik,
Sarah Boudens
C1: James Cartwright, Tom Hewitt C2: Benoit
Gauthier/Francois Letourneau
Canada’s slalom scene (“Gold Digger,” page 22) with the fastest runs, the widest margin in any class was posted by Alberta’s Paul Manning-Hunter who separated himself from the rest of the juniors by 16 seconds. Alberta’s Saskia van Mourik, who placed second in the women’s category with a 380-centimetre boat, is embracing the shorter boats.
regulations altogether.” JUNIORS:
K1 Men: Paul Manning- Hunter, Ben Haywood, Dominic Moisan K1 Women: Sara Potvin- Bernal, Anna Williams,
She’s since moved to a 367-cm boat for the World Cup tour. “We can be more aggressive now,” says van Mourik. “I’d like to see them get rid of boat length —I.M.
Celeste Corkery C1: Julian Potvin- Bernal, Spencer Pomeroy, Cam Smedley C2: Jamie Cutts/ Adam Cutts
Photo RICK MATTHEWS
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