With about 80 slalom paddlers, clear warm weather, 5 days of water releases, a delicious banquet dinner, and many generous volunteers making it all happen, the 2015 ACA North American Open Canoe Slalom Championships was deemed a huge success. This was no doubt because it attracted such wonderful people, canoeists from all over, to an annual event that highlights great paddling, camaraderie and exciting slalom competition. Seeing old friends, making new ones and sharing the passion for the sport drives events like our slalom race, and as is our custom, many are already looking forward to next year’s race.

All seem to agree that this year’s race on the Madawaska River proved highly entertaining by providing both a challenging race course, and, a true downriver competition with current from the top to the bottom of the run. Whatever stands out in your memory, be it the surf to gate 12 or perhaps a dry line in Staircase, we hope that with the race behind us, that your recollections are positive and bring a smile as you recall your week at MKC.

Many thanks go out to the MKC team for supporting the administration of the event, preparing a wonderful banquet dinner and supporting the race activities.  Special thanks to Claudia Van Wijk for agreeing to hosting the race, freeing up MKC from its weekly instructional business so that we could have the site all to ourselves, was a treat for all attending slalom canoeists.

And finally, Carole and I would like to repeat our strong appreciation to all those who helped us run the race. As you no doubt will recall (if you were present at our awards ceremony) there were many, many generous folks that worked hard behind the scenes to make this event happen. Organizing the race was an enjoyable task in large part because it drew together a dedicated group of paddlers and friends who committed to doing one or more of the many tasks needed to host this race. If anyone out there is thinking of taking a turn in the future, I recommend it – supporting the paddling community maybe the heart of the job, but the memories and satisfaction may stick with you forever.

Looking forward to our next slalom event, so long for now.