Whitewater Rafting

While creek racers in the Rockies and elsewhere are busy chalking up results domestically, a crew of kayakers overseas recently battled for top bragging rights in Italy at the unofficial Teva Extreme Kayaking World Championships...

This is a must-hit event for whitewater paddlers and river lovers of all persuasions, featuring new events this year in an action-packed one-day format. And according to American Whitewater, for whom the annual event is a major fundraiser, the Deerfield Fest is the largest whitewater event in the northeast. It’s also one of the longest running, coming together back in 1994 to commemorate and celebrate the successful dam relicensing process that took place on the Deerfield in 1993.

Talk about a race down a badge of courage. Last weekend, Idaho’s North Fork of the Payette drew some of the best kayakers in the world to Idaho for the first-ever, large-scale kayak race down the notorious stretch of Class V. In the end, local Ryan Casey took top honors, followed by Tyler Bradt and Mikkel St. John-Duncan.

While Great Britain’s David Florence made history at this weekend’s Cardiff World Cup in Switzerland, winning his second gold medal of the weekend in C2, for the U.S. all eyes were on who would make the final cut for the five-spot Olympic team heading to London. In the end, it was Scott Parsons (K1), Caroline Queen (WK1), Eric Hurd/Jeff Larimer (C2) and Casey Eichfeld (C1)...

Next stop Lyons. That's the sentiment for those following the $5,000 REP Whitewater Challenge, a series of events held at river parks designed by Boulder, Colo.’s Recreation Engineering & Planning, now nearing its halfway point with three of its seven events completed. In the lead? No surprise...Dane Jackson.

Bam Margera, star and founder of the hit MTV show “Jackass”, “Jackass, The Movie” and MTV’s “Viva La Bam” series, has been on the front of such magazines as Rolling Stone, People, Sports Illustrated, and ESPN. Now he’s also been in the front of a tandem kayak piloted by none other than Steve Fisher...

The first weekend of May 2012 witnessed some of the best river action east of the Mississippi at the 15th annual French Broad River...

Chalk two up for the foreigners. An Olympian from Down Under got up and over the competition at this year’s Homestake Creek Race at the Teva Mountain Games, as well as a gal from The Netherlands. Mike Dawson from New Zealand claimed a repeat victory in the Bud Light Lime Steep Creek Championships in Vail. On the women's side, Martina Wegman of The Netherlands beat out the women’s field for top honors...

Want to sell boats? Take a lesson from the Adirondack Paddlefest in Old Forge, N.Y. Clear skies and sky blue sales marked the 14th Annual Adirondack Paddlefest in Old Forge, New York, May 18–20, at the biggest on-water boat sale and demo in the country...

The water might not have been the highest competitors have seen but the excitement still was at this year’s seventh annual Paddling Life Pro Open on Monday, May 28, in Steamboat Springs, Colo. And the sub-par levels still didn’t stop some of the world’s best kayakers from putting on a sizzling show as the final event of the Yampa River Festival.

Paddlers might be partying a little harder than usual at this year's Teva Games. Mother Nature has thrown every curve ball possible to the organizers of the Teva Mountain Games — from sinkholes and snowstorms to floods. This year it's drought. While organizers remain hopeful all whitewater and SUP events will take place as planned May 31-June 3, they'll make a final race status decision May 29....

Commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act this year, American Rivers named the Coal River as topping America’s Most Endangered Rivers, shining a spotlight on the threat mountaintop removal mining poses to clean water and public health. Read on for full list...

No one got cheated out of any fun at this year’s 17th annual Cheat River Festival, highlighted by the “Massacre-ence” kayak race on West Virginia’s Cheat River May 4. Marking the largest, mass start kayak race in the country with more than 155 boaters, this year above average (3.9 feet) water levels provided plenty of pandemonium...

Boaters in the Northwest got a backyard run back as, for the first time since Condit Dam was breached in October 2011, a public access is once again available downstream of Husum Falls on the lower White Salmon. Bonus: A new play wave upstream of the bridge...

Talk about a fundraiser. While river festivals around the country try to raise funds for their respective waterways this spring, this year’s annual First Descents Ball, which raises money for the non-profit helping kids with cancer, raised a whopping $450,000....

A key round in the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trails for whitewater slalom took place at the U.S. National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., April 12-14. Among the results, women’s world freestyle champion Emily Jackson earned a seat on the USA Canoe/Kayak Team, with an opportunity to win a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team competing in London this summer.

Borrowing a line from Field of Dreams, the Nantahala Outdoor Center gears up this week for the 2012 NOC Freestyle Shootout April 20-22, the first official freestyle event to be held at the newly built Nantahala Wave, designed for the upcoming 2013 ICF Canoe Freestyle World Championships...

Existing whitewater festivals throughout the country will get a new dose of SUP added to their line-ups this year. Boardworks recently announced a new 2012 Show Up and Blow Up SUP Demo Tour, featuring a fully stocked caravan of pros and boards touring the country offering free SUP demos, races, clinics and more...

A new program launched by American Rivers, the nation’s leading river conservation organization, is helping local businesses and outfitters connect with customers and join the effort to protect rivers and clean water...

While last year’s flooding in New England had area rivers at near-record highs, a pentathlon did so to heart rates this year at the Zoar Outdoor Center in late March...

Small World Adventures, which runs uber-sweet kayaking trips in Ecuador from its lodge on the banks of the Quijos River, is entering a new chapter with the sale of Small World and Cabanas Tres Rios lodge to Guy Erb, of Spokane, Wash. Erb plans on joining the SWA team for the 2012/2013 season and is leaving the structure of the staff, trips and logistics the same. Having been there to sample its first-class whitewater wares, PL checks in...

A few more kids might be getting wet than normal this paddling season, thanks to a new series of grants offered by Outdoor Nation. The group recently announced the 13 winners of its Paddle Nation Project, aimed at connecting young Americans with their waterways through recreational paddling...

Paddlers give up water? A tall order, perhaps, but that’s what Teva is asking paddlers to do on the eve of the 19th annual World Water Day...

A trio of paddlers is banding together to raise money for global peace through competitive endurance paddling. PL checks in with founder Dwanye VanHoose...