NEWS
WORLD WHITEWATER NEWS
COLORADO TOUR, USA
When ski-town snow melts into the lottery-funded play-parks of Colorado, paddlers from across the nation venture to the Rocky Mountains to creek, play
and celebrate in a series of back-to-back freestyle events know as the Colorado Rodeo Tour. This year, numerous families from the Southeast packed up the
kids and jumped in the RV to enjoy the family-fun atmosphere. The CO fun starts at CKS Paddlefest, where kettle corn, lemonade, and water zorbing added
a festive atmosphere to this "kick off the season" paddle party. Clinics, demos, racing and freestyle were the focus, but the free camping zone was a ton of
fun, especially for those too young to get into the bars. The hole was slow, shallow and tricky but Hunter Katich went huge - earning a 1700+ ride and the
win. Emily Jackson’s consistent mcnasty’s put her on top for the women. As soon as the BV comp was over, paddlers had a short hike upstream to train for
the US Team Trials right there in the same park. This year was one of the biggest junior turnouts we’ve seen, although all classes were competitive. The hole
was nearly perfect and the scores reflected that, challenging the athlete-judges to keep up ride after ride. In the end our sibling World Champs - Dane and
Emily - came out on top again, but a super-strong team was picked ready to challenge the world in Argentina this fall. The Animas River Days in Durango
has been resurrected. Last year’s high water flows and the big-wave success meant expectations were high for 2017. Yet levels were finicky; for those on the
creeks there was high water fun, but the waves kept shifting and the event forced to shift with it. Despite changing conditions, paddlers enjoyed BIG water
fun, some big air passes, and lots of good times. Courtney Kerin and Dane Jackson took the freestyle wins. In BV, the parking lot stayed full as over half the
tour chose to skip the drive and keep enjoying the perfect play, dirt-lot living and big water boating of the Ark Valley before venturing up to the concrete
glamour of Vail. GoPro Mountain Games is a “mountain festival” that showcases its kayaking roots. Held in Vail, CO, it adds a dose of glamour and glitz to
the tour. Big entry fees, big prizes and big crowds pack both the Homestake Steep Creek Race and Freestyle, but there are TONS of other events going on
from slack lining and climbing to dock-dog jumping, raft races, fly-fishing contests, and SUP-cross racing. Weather and water levels were perfect this year,
minimizing carnage at Homestake. Dane and Nouria Newman proved the fastest amongst a heavily stacked international field. The freestyle once again
saw the high-flying “HUGE” tricks of Hunter Katich win both the crowd and the
cash, while Emily Jackson’s consistency delivered her 10th Vail Freestyle victory!
And of course, the infamous 8-Ball Race, which pits a team of ‘blockers’ against
a field of boater cross racers. The resulting full-contact kayak action draws a big
crowd, bloodies the waters, and often gives the medics a call or two. Hayden
Vorhees got the cash. The FIBARK Festival is all about FUN! With a rocking top-
notch band every night, beer vendors and carnival rides, Slalom, SUP, and the
infamous “Hooligan’’ race (think soap-box derby with rapids), FIBARK is still one
of the best. To add to the fun, a freestyle “Jam Session” format for prelims gave
everyone 5 rides with little waiting. There was SUP surf, Raft Freestyle, SUPcross, tons
of slalom, the original FIBARK Downriver Race, and of course, the party. Get your
paddling in, enter every event you can, then meet on first row and rock out with
friends. That’s Fibark, that’s the finale, and while Colorado keeps flowing, we’ve
all got places to be after this epic month on the road.Words: Kathryn Walker and Clay Wright - Photo: Dan DavisNATURAL GAMES, MILLAU
FRANCE
The 10th anniversary of the Natural Games in
Millau, France, was an incredible event despite
cloudy and rainy weather. After organizing a
World Cup in 2014, the European Federation
decided to take advantage of the Natural
Games, and use it to organize a leg of the
European Cup. Every year the Natural Games is a
major event in the European kayak scene, with a
wide variety of events and competitions, from a
big air show, to boater cross, dragon boat races,
freestyle, SUP cross, and a SUP river race in front
of a thousand people cheering! On June 29th,
the freestyle kayak Eurocup brought together
140 competitors from 15 different countries.
Local master Quim Fontané (ESP) took the win in
Senior Men, followed by Sebastien Devred (FRA)
and Tomasz Czaplicki (POL). Zofia Tula (POL)
took gold in the women’s class. Tom Dolle (FRA)
flew over the rest of the competition in Junior
Men, whle Silvia Gallego (ESP) won for the junior
women. In the C1 class, Seb Devred had a hard
fight against Lukas Cervinka (CZE) before taking
the win. Off the water, there were more than 500
riders for Enduro MTB World Cup, 100 climbers,
50 MTB slopestyle riders, 140 kayakers, 30 SUP
paddlers, slackliners, paragliders, trail runners,
and more than 100,000 visitors during this 4-day
long event.Words: Thomas Richard - Photo: Courtesy of the NG