Cedar River Slalom 2022
Washing Kayak Club’s 2022 FALL CEDAR PRACTICE AND SLALOM (November 5-6)
By Jennie Goldberg
Despite the dire weather forecast for the weekend of the 2022 Fall Cedar Slalom, we had a sunny day on Saturday and no rain on Sunday! Whoo-hoo!! As if that wasn’t enough, we also had 500 cfs both days. A whitewater dream come true.
Thank you to the City of Seattle Public Utilities, the Washington Kayak Club, Race Director, Bob Duffner (and co-directors, Jennie Goldberg and Dawn Meekhof), as well as the volunteers who worked on building and fixing the slalom course.
On Saturday about 40 paddlers in all kinds of boats were out on the water enjoying an excellent and creative course designed by Jacob Selander. The majority of paddlers this weekend were in their plastic kayaks, and it was great to see so many new to slalom and loving it. There was also a handful of open boats. Hooray! Since all other rivers in the area had way too much water, the Cedar was clearly the place to be.
Sunday’s race went smoothly to the satisfaction of Race Director Bob Duffner and co-Directors Jennie Goldberg and Dawn Meekhof. The 35 paddlers racing were all smiles. But of course, the day was not without excitement, including some swims and gate missing and gate bashing, but, hey, that’s what it’s all about!
Here are some interesting and notable facts from the weekend:
Twelve junior paddlers ranging in age from 9 to 17 competed. A PNW record. Five came from Chilliwack, British Columbia, and 5 from Oregon’s eNRG Kayak school.
Kira Andrews , age 13 was only 1 second behind her mother.
The second fastest boat of the day was 14 year old Hayden McGowan.
The fastest boat of the day was Shawn Smith.
The fastest woman was Jennie Goldberg, who was 4th overall.
Rufus Knapp from Portland was the only racer with two clean runs!
Julie Alsberge even made the journey from Grants Pass, Oregon, for her first Washington slalom race.
It was so much fun. Stay tuned to the WKC Events page and/or Facebook for a potential Pop-Up race this winter and for a group work-out/paddle on any random weekend. Every Wednesday at 2:30 there is also a plan to meet on the Cedar gates. Come join us!
Photos were taken by Richard Ivey who was there all weekend for his annual “practice taking photos of whitewater kayaking!” You can copy and download photos from the links. If you want photos without his watermark, just contact him.
RESULTS BELOW!!
