 The first edition of the Payette River Games took place this last weekend on the banks of the North Fork of the Payette river in Cascade, Idaho. Cascade is a pretty little town in western Idaho, home of the Kelly’s White Water Park, a beautiful riverside park along the shores of the NF of the Payette with a few freestyle features. The park was built by Mark and Kristina Pickard to celebrate the life of Kelly Brennan.
After some years working on it the park looks beautiful and green and makes this quiet stretch of river a lot more enjoyable. The top feature is world class, with a green right shoulder that allows for almost every wave trick and a nice and deep foam pile on surfer’s left where you can throw every hole move, combos and everything! Pretty good playspot, with big eddies, warm water and the nice park all around.
The event featured kayak (freestyle + sprint/cross) and SUP as the main sports, however there was also volleyball, lumberjack, climbing, horseshoe, petanque, golf, disc golf, basketball, dog competitions… almost everything!
 Freestyle prelims started Friday and took all day long! I had been sick the whole week before the event so wasn’t able to train at all. I did a couple rides on Thursday evening and hoped for the best. I had one good ride on Friday and that put me into semis in 9th place, I was pretty surprised as I was still feeling weak and sick and that was the first time I was doing any freestyle since last year…
The Jed’s and carbon Jed’s paddled by the demshitz boys looked great all over the weekend! The Jed was awesome on the wave with the boys throwing clean blunts to mc nasty, big loops and super steeze tricks!
Saturday was time for the Sprint, Boater X and Freestyle semis, a busy long day! We did a 1.5 mile sprint from northern Cascade to the WW Park, about 11 minutes of pure flat water, it was pretty exhausting! Luckily I managed to win this one and went on with the BoaterX. I managed to win my first two heats as well, but on my third and final heat I got smashed against some rocks and couldn’t catch up… it’s boaterX. Freestyle semis went ok with a couple bad rides I jumped into 8th, but anyway that wasn’t my focus… still pleased with the result for my first freestyle sessions of the year. The large Shiva was great to have for the boaterX, good rocker for the start and good size to kick everyone around, or get kicked too!
Sunday started with some nice weather and the final sprint. I was pretty nervous as I knew I had to win to stand a chance on the podium after my bad result on the boaterX. Luckily I had a good run and managed to win again what made me the overall champion for the Sprint/Cross! I was pretty stoked on this as I had been sick and didn’t even know if I would be able to compete at the event and never felt 100%.
Congrats to everyone for three days filled of action and thanks to all the volunteers and amazing organizers for putting this thing together! Finally amazing thanks to Mark for building the Kelly’s WW park and putting the biggest purse out there for us kayakers! Awesome event!
Pics by Claire O’hara, AlÃcia Casas, Adriene Levneck and Phillip Robert.
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The Payette River Games in Idaho! | BoaterBlog.com Whitewater News Blog - Kayaking, Rafting, Canoe, SUP & River Conservation says:
June 25, 2013 at 7:15 am (UTC 1 )
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