At the beginning of June every year, the quiet mountain village Moos in Passeier comes alive as the best kayakers from across to globe come to compete for King and Queen of the Alps.
This year in the 11th annual year was particularly special for the organisers Caz, Thomas, Daniel, and Pia, with AWP awarding the event the title of Extreme Kayak World Championship.
The Pyranha van arrived early in the week at our final stop of the tour with the fleet of demos for the event. With over 250 event participants from 25 nations, it was stacking up to be a highly competitive weekend of racing. From early on in the week athletes were training hard on both the qualification section which was lower down the valley in San Leonardo and the finals course situated in Moos featuring the famous Intimidator rapid, a steep class 5 with a waterfall entering from the right.
Thursday night was the first official get-together with registration/ bib collection, boat check and safety briefing. Nerves were beginning to grow with anticipation for the qualification day so as to be expected it was a quiet night in camp.
An early start on Friday, paddlers arrived for qualification from 8 am to begin warming up on the San Leonardo section. The 700m class 3+ would separate the top 60 men, top 10 women and 10 masters. This would also be the final standings for the junior category, OC1 and pack rafters. In the evening paddlers came together to tell stories and chat about their race runs. A race brief for finalists was given and those who were unfortunate not to make the highly competitive cut-off got the weekend going in style by competing in the fun king triathlon.
Saturday is World Championship Finals Day! The most anticipated day of the year for extreme whitewater racers. 80 kayakers in total took to the water, Pyranha team paddlers Nicolas Caussanel, Jonas Le Morvan, and Lyndon Williams all made the cut in the first round to advance to the Semi-finals in the extremely competitive men’s category. From here 5 masters and 5 Women advanced to the finals and 15 men. The pressure was on to deliver 1 last run, at this point spectators and everyone watching the live stream was fully engrossed. The biggest stage was set. The commentary from Caz and Tim got the well-oiled crowd fired up and the final kayakers put on a fine showcase of our wonderful sport.
Men’s Open
1st – Zach Mutton
2nd – George Snook
3rd – Mattias Weger
4th – Andi Brunner
5th – Nico Caussanel
Women’s
1st – Nouria Newman
2nd – River Mutton
3rd – Marlene Devillez
4th – Laura Hofberger
5th – Flurina Fischer
The only thing left to do is what whitewater kayakers do best and throw the best parties and delicately pack up the following day. We will 100% see you next year King of the Alps. Thanks for making one of the most inclusive and special race events of the year!