North Fork Championship Explained

The North Fork Championship is a whitewater kayaking extreme race located on the North Fork of the Payette River, just north of Banks, Idaho.[1] [2] The North Fork of the Payette River is one of the most well known class V rivers in the world, most notably for the extremely continuous big water. The first race was held in 2012 and has become an annual race. The North Fork Championship, or NFC, on or around the second weekend in June and brings the best whitewater kayakers from around the world to race down the infamous rapid called “Jacob's Ladder”. The NFC is unique in the sense that it takes an extremely dangerous and difficult rapid, and forces the racers to make different maneuvers in the rapid that are very challenging and that they wouldn't normally choose to run.[3] After just one year, American Canoe and Kayak named the North Fork Championship as the 2013 Sanctioned Event of the Year, since then it has attracted even more top level kayakers from around the globe.[4]

Race Format

Elite Race

The main event of the weekend on Saturday is the Elite Race on Jacobs Ladder. To race down Jacob's Ladder, one must be invited in one of three different ways: take top 5 in the Expert Race (the qualifier), be previously voted in as one of 15 racers by The Trick Force, or be part of The Trick Force (the top 10 finishers in the previous years race). To be voted in, paddlers must submit an application, stating why they believe they are capable of racing, as well as why they should be invited.[5]

The Elite Race is an extreme slalom time trial. Each racer goes down the course one at a time to have the fastest time, while also navigating around “gates” that are determined by the organizers to make the racers do challenging and difficult maneuvers. Failure to go on the correct side of the gate results in a 50-second penalty, and touching the gate results in a 5-second penalty. Each racer gets 2 runs down the course, and the fastest time is recorded for the results.[6]

Expert Race

The Expert Race serves as the race that allows anyone that is capable of paddling the whitewater. It is held down on the S-Turn Rapid, located on the "Upper 5" section on the North Fork. This race was previously held on the "Lower 5" section of the river during the first few years. S-Turn is a class V rapid, but more manageable for a wider variety of people compared to Jacob's Ladder. Over 150 racers go one at a time to have the fastest raw time. Motivation can be to just get out and race, beat their friends, or try and qualify for the Elite Race.

Boater X

The Boater X is a head to head race locate on a rapid called S-turn. The top 35 racers from the Expert Race, along with the invited Elite division are allowed to compete in this race. The Boater X is not timed, it is just simply a tournament style head to head, with the top half of the racers in each heat moving on to the next round.

Results

2016: NFC V[7]

Elite Division

PlaceRiderBibTime
1Dane Jackson21:57.60
2Tad Dennis161:58.28
3Kyle Hull91:59.00
4Alec Voorhees52:00.31
5Aniol Serrasolses42:00.53
6Joe Morley112:01.67
7Nick Troutman122:08.90
8William Griffith182:10.35
9Rush Sturges172:10.71
10Evan Moore032:11.82
11Isaac Levinson32:11.93
12Kalob Grady102:14.35
13Tren Long62:16.61
14Sam Ellis052:17.10
15Dave Fusilli212:18.01
16Brendan Wells152:18.09
17Nouria Newman82:27.66
18Will Pruett192:49.08
19Todd Wells72:50.72
20Galen Volckhausen202:54.52
21Matias Lopez022:54.09
22Louis Geltman132:56.18
23Ben Kinsella262:57.71
24Phil Mitchell043:03.60
25Pat Keller143:06.40
26Aaron Mann243:06.78
27Pedro Andrade Astorga013:15.73
28Ben Marr253:29.01
29Sam Grafton234:09.55

2015: NFC IV[8]

Elite Division

PlaceRiderBibTime
1Gerd Serrasolses42:05.50
2Dane Jackson92:06.29
3Isaac Levinson122:07.42
4Aniol Serrasolses152:08.94
5Alec Voorhees132:11.19
6Tren Long032:14.13
7Todd Wells52:15.89
8Nouria Newman232:16.02
9Kyle Hull142:16.30
10Kalob Grady162:16.67
11Andrew Holcombe72:17.93
12Louis Geltman182:17.98
13Nick Troutman102:18.39
14Brendan Wells052:19.63
15Erik Johnson242:19.66
16Galen Volckhausen222:20.28
17Eric Deguil112:21.31
18Rush Sturges62:25.53
19Tyler Bradt172:28.43
20Liam Fournier252:29.23
21Nathan Garcia192:32.43
22Seth Stoenner202:32.49
23Joey Simmons012:33.16
24Jules Domine13:08.49
25Brad McMillan023:13.07
26Eric Parker213:13.22
Ryan Mooney04
Egor Voskoboynikov2
Evan Garcia3
Joe Morley8

2014: NFC III

Elite Division

PlaceRiderBibTime
1Jules Domine901:59.18
2Egor Voskoboynikov2102:02.52
3Evan Garcia402:03.20
4Gerd Serrasolses202:04.63
5Todd Wells602:05.34
6Rush Sturges302:05.79
7Andrew Holcombe502:05.98
8Joe Morley1402:06.27
9Dane Jackson1302:09.49
10Nick Troutman2502:10.12
11Aniol Serrasolses1902:10.20
12Ryan Casey702:11.85
13Bryan Kirk1202:12.36
14Eric Deguil1702:13.75
15Seth Stoenner2202:13.79
16Galen Volckhausen1502:19.78
17Erik Johnson1602:23.77
18Momo Castillo0302:37.86
19Louis Geltman102:51.14
20Alec Voorhees0402:55.79
21Pangal Andrade Astorga0103:01.53
22James Byrd803:03.45
23Geoff Calhoun0503:06.60
24Isaac Levinson2403:09.07
25Ben Marr1803:10.13
26Brendan Wells2003:18.64
27Brian Ward2303:22.02
28Katrina Van Wijk1103:24.89
Kyle Hull10DNS
Tren Long02DNS

2013: NFC II

Elite Division

PlaceRiderBibTime
1Louis Geltman1601:57.20
2Gerd Serrasolses1101:59.81
3Rush Sturges1201:59.84
4Evan Garcia802:00.88
5Andrew Holcombe1402:01.16
6Todd Wells1302:02.78
7Ryan Casey102:10.28
8James Byrd2002:10.31
9Jules Domine1702:13.38
10Kyle Hull1902:14.36
11Lane Jacobs0302:16.79
12Chris Gragtmans1502:17.48
13Ben Marr702:25.38
14Brian Ward2102:25.42
15Ian McClaran2402:37.46
16Geoff Calhoun502:39.41
17Eric Deguil0102:51.67
18Dylan Thomson1802:57.12
19Mikkel St. Jean Duncan302:59.10
20Ben Luck2203:01.20
21Jakub Nemec903:01.50
22Tristan McClaran2503:04.45
23Erik Johnson2303:37.99
24Darren Albright0203:55.20
25Marcos Gallegos0504:42.40

2012: NFC I

Elite Division

PlaceRiderBibTime
1Ryan Casey802:17.410
2Tyler Bradt1202:18.530
3Mikkel St. Jean Duncan902:18.790
4Wilz Martin0502:18.910
5Geoff Calhoun202:19.250
6Pat Keller3002:19.540
7Ben Marr1402:20.970
8Evan Garcia502:22.750
9Jakub Nemec702:25.900
10Fred Coriell1802:34.310
11Kyle Hull402:35.06
12Rush Sturges1302:36.84
13Jonny Meyers1702:51.65
14Tristan McClaran2202:54.35
15Lane Jacobs2103:02.75
16Andrew Holcombe303:12.69
17Chris Gragtmans1603:16.12
18Darren Albright0203:17.50
19Jesse Murphy2003:19.16
20Dan Menten1103:22.56
21Chris Mctaggert0603:32.78
22Dan Simenc1903:39.84
23Ryan Lucas1503:48.44
24Ben Luck0104:08.53
25Mira Kodada1005:56.00
Zach Fraysier03DNF

Notes and References

  1. News: Idaho kayakers challenge world's best on Payette River. CRIPE. CHADD. June 14, 2016. Idaho Statesman. 2017-04-27. en.
  2. Web site: Whitewater Women. Murri. Jessica. June 18, 2014. Boise Weekly. 2017-04-27.
  3. Web site: Reaching Extremes: Idaho's North Fork Championship. Visit Idaho.
  4. Web site: ACA - Sanctioned Event of the Year Awards.
  5. News: North Fork Championship Returns. June 16, 2016. KTVB.
  6. News: Recap: 2016 North Fork Championship V. Mann. Aaron. 2016-06-25. Canoe & Kayak Magazine. 2017-04-27. en-US.
  7. Web site: Kayak Session: The 2016 North Fork Championship, Full results!. 2016. Kayak Session.
  8. Web site: North Fork Championship Race Results. North Fork Championship.