North Fork Championships!

 Above: Aniol Serrasolses halfway down the course

 Above: Joe Morley on his way to rock drop

 Above: Dane Jackson

 Above: Katrina Van Wijk 

After an epic 12hour car journey Martina, Joe Morley, Jen Chrimes and myself finally arrived to camp on the banks of the North Fork of the Payette in Idaho. This river is like no other that I have paddled. It is roadside and has characteristics of big volume yet is not very deep and has sharp rocks. The river can be broken down into sections with the Upper 5, Swingbridge-Jakes, Golf course into lower 7 and then the main. The top sections are the most difficult but are a lot of fun! They just have a continuos style so you need to be on your game and ready to make moves. I did a lap from top to bottom (with a portage around the mighty Jacobs Ladder) and it took around 3-4hours. 

The third North Fork Championship was to kick off on the Friday so we did a bunch of laps on the lower 5 which was the section we were to race down for the ‘Expert’ Class. A lot of people came into the area for the race from around the globe making for a lot of hype in the atmosphere. I had a good race run but went through a couple of holes towards the bottom of the course loosing a small amount of time. I was pretty happy with my run and finished 4th in the womans just behind Jen Chrimes, Katrina V W with Martina Wegman taking the win. The top 5 men from this race went through to the Elite race down Jacobs Ladder. 

The Elite Race down Jacobs Ladder was invite only with around 25 racers + the 5 wild cards from the lower 5 race. Slalom gates were set up in a number of places down Jacobs ladder making for a technically difficult course. Each racer had 2 runs and it was awesome watching each talented kayaker race down the course. I was stoked to watch my good friend and the only female Katrina Van Wijk race down the course too. 

Stoked to come back next year, this event is for sure one of the stoutest and one of the best!