All we can say is that’s a lot of shuttle money. While climbing, disc golf, volleyball, dog fetch, fitness, golf, fly casting, even axe throwing and log rolling in the lumberjack division all made a splash at the Payette Games and Idaho Whitewater Championships held June 21-23 in Cascade, Idaho, it was paddling – complete with a whopping $54,000 cash purse between SUP, sprint and freestyle — that stole the show…
In one of whitewater’s richest cash purses ever, it was Stephen Wright taking first in the freestyle event to take home the $4,000 first-place prize, besting Dane Jackson in second who won $3,000. In an event where the women’s purse matched the men’s, Emily Jackson out-dueled the UK’s Claire O’Hara to pick up the same prize.
“Kelly’s is an epic playspot, which allows for both legit great wave tricks and all the big hole tricks,” says Wright. “It’s the only place I know where after prelims was done, literally every trick on the sheet had been scored by someone. My best ride had wave moves like airscrews flip turns, and helixes; hole moves like lunar orbits, phonix monkeys, and loops; and combos of the two like clean blunt-mcnasty combos and wave monkeys. Beating Dane required scoring the highest rides in U.S. history–Dane is incredible, and it’s tough to beat him anywhere these days.”
Similar cash prizes — $4,000 for first, $3,000 for second, $1,500 for third, $1,000 for fourth and $500 for fifth – were awarded for the sprint/boater cross events for both men and women, with Spain’s Gerd Serrasolses taking the catbird’s seat to Galen Volckhausen for the men and Adriene Levknecht besting O’Hara in the women’s division.
And it was the women taking home top cash honors over the weekend, with O’Hara claiming the top spot with $6,000 for her two second-place finishes and Levknecht $5,500 for her third and first-place showings. For the men, Wright led the casheesh charge at $4,000 in winnings, followed Nick Troutman in second in the dinner-buying running with $3,500 (fifth in boatercross, first in SUP) and his Daneness in third pocketing $3,000.
In all, $20 grand each was parceled out in the sprint and freestyle events, with another $14 in SUP, for a total of $54,000 in the paddlesports pie.
Results (and cash pay-out)
Kayaking – Men’s Freestyle
1st Steven Wright – Walling, TN $4000
2nd Dane Jackson – Walling, TN $3000
3rd Jason Craig – Reno, NV $1500
4th Clay Wright – Walling, TN $1000
5th Eric Jackson – Walling, TN $500
Kayaking – Womens Freestyle
1st Emily Jackson – Rock Island, TN $4000
2nd Clair O’Hara – UK $3000
3rd Adriene Levknecht – Greeneville, SC $1500
4th Cortney Kerin – New Zealand $1000
5th Erin Clancy – $500
Kayaking – Men’s Sprint / Boater Cross
1st Gerd Serrasolses – Spain $4000
2nd Galen Volckhausen – Ithaca, NY $3000
3rd Eric Jackson – Walling, TN $1500
4th Alec Voorhees – Meridian, ID $1000
5th Nick Troutman – Rock Island, TN $500
Kayaking – Women’s Sprint / Boater Cross
1st Adriene Levknecht – Greeneville, SC $4000
2nd Clair O’Hara – UK $3000
3rd Brooke Hess-Homeir – Missoula, MT $1500
4th Devon Barker-Hicks – McCall, ID $1000
5th Alicia Casas – Spain $500
Kayaking – Cadet
1st Hayden Voorhees – Meridian, ID
2nd Kenny Kellogg – Glenwood Springs, CO
3rd Dally Kellogg – Glenwood Springs, CO
4th Skye Titus – Cascade, ID
5th Connor Voorhees – Meridian, ID
Kayaking – Junior Men
1st Grady Kellogg – Glenwood Springs, CO
2nd Brody Kellogg – Glenwood Springs, CO
3rd Kaito Roemer – Missoula, MT
4th Crosby Crevelt – Cascade, ID
5th Joaquin Trevelline – Missoula, MT
Kayaking – Junior Women
1st Sage Donnelly – Carson City, NV
2nd Anna Scheher – Salida, CO
3rd Darby McAdams – Missoula, MT
4th Kady Kellogg – Glenwood Springs, CO
SUP Men
1st Nick Troutman – Rock Island, TN $3000
2nd Benjamin Sarrazin – Petaluma, CA$1750
3rd Chris Gragtmans – Asheville, NC $1000
4th Kenneth Hoeve – Gypsum, CO $750
5th Eric Jackson – Walling, TN $500
SUP Women
1st Nikki Gregg – Hood River, OR $3000
2nd Haley Mills – Elizabethtown, KY $1750
3rd Jen Kjellesvik – Bend, OR $1000
4th Cortney Kerin – New Zealand $750
5th Sage Donnelly – Carson City, NV $500
