Massachusetts, USA

I think I heard about it from one of my students. I work at HUGE and we got on the website and we said, “holy shit! This is the one! This is the biggest competition that has ever gone down.” I wanted to come and somehow I made it.

I think every venue has been… scary, but I think that is important if you are going to take the top paddlers… you need to put them on something that is on the top end of their ability in order for them to do something great.

I am the head coach at HUGE. It has prepared me for the GP by paddling everyday on world class features… but the level here is above what we paddle there. I am excited about stepping up with all these guys that I used to watch in movies when I was learning how to paddle.

I didn’t know what to expect coming here. I paddle with some of these guys in the off-season… but it is a different feel. Being able to stay competitive has been great.

I really hope so. The GP gives them a high level to shoot for… bigger better places to compete in. Hopefully the youth will continue to increase to improve and will in turn push this competition to new levels in the future.

The media here has been phenomenal here… better than any other competition in the history of kayaking. I think that is a huge leg up… simply great exposure. And the new carbon boats… these are little things that are stepping up the sport. We are building a platform.

Very important. I mean we are on rivers all the time. We get to travel to these wonderful places, but it is responsibility of us to spread the word and get good information out there so that people can sift through the propaganda and find the truth about what is going on to our rivers and to our environment.

It is really interesting because in Chile all of their water rights are awarded to a foreign country… Spain. As much as Chileans want a voice, they have way less power than say we do in say the States. They have started an organization called Patagonia sin Represas, which is pushing the government to preserve rivers in Chile as well as creating awareness on these types of issues. Just recently there has been big protest sin Santiago against hydro-projects… places like the Baker and Pascua. In the time of Pinochet he awarded the water rights to a foreign company called Indesa. They have rights on all rivers in Chile and have been methodically going through those rivers, putting in dams and then selling the electricity to foreign countries. I heard a figure that like only 30% of the electricity produced stays within Chile. A couple days ago there was a violent protest against the dams… people know what they are losing now. I think things will start to change.

After four years of working with the school, I am retiring and moving to Chile… the Maipo region, to see what I can do to help out with the preservation of rivers… and training my ass off to come back here and win the Grand Prix!

Beaupre, Québec

I was paddling around Quebec City and Montreal… I came up here in the north a couple of years ago, but only for slalom training. I started out at a summer camp when I was 9… I paddled down-river and slalom. I have been kayaking now for around 20 years.

At the beginning I was a little nervous because I put a lot of pressure on myself. I hadn’t paddled all winter long and it was difficult to jump right into the competition. I needed to remember I am here to have fun and to learn. I think that it is a great personal experience.

Right now there are a lot of hydro-electrical projects here in Quebec. This event will promote our rivers as training spots and show how great they are. It will help to increase the sport and maybe if we have more people join the federation, it will give a stronger voice so that we can put pressure on the government with these projects.

The reputation of Quebec is that it is a real good place to paddle. There is every type of river. In summer in fall, spring… always something to run. It is emerging as the premier spot to paddle in Canada.

For me it’s hard because I don’t paddle all year round. I began my paddling season one month ago… so all the big water has been a real challenge. The Grand Prix is the warm up for me this year! I am very tired now… very challenging. A lot of the athletes have a good comfort level in terms of knowing what they want to run… for me I have not established my limits yet. This makes it difficult. It has been hard courses for everyone, freestyle and racing.

At the moment it is unknown… there is only one club in Quebec City. We would like to promote the sport and create more opportunities to learn. We want kayaking to become the sport of Quebec. We want to make some camps so kids can try the sport… give some direction and supply the foundation for learning how to kayak.

I am from Quebec City! There are lots of good rivers an hour away… tons of variety… it is really good. But for big-water… good surf waves… Montreal. It depends on what you want to do.

We are the only province that speaks in French. In Montreal and Gatineau there are a lot of people that only speak English even though they live in Quebec. It is important for me that people come here and at least try to speak French. When we go other places we always will speak in English. So when people come here why can’t they try and speak French? It is important, language is important .

Most of the youth speak French. They continue to learn it, but it depends on where they live. In the south… there is a lot of English. In Montreal lots of immigrants only speak English, but mostly just in Montreal. Up in the north everyone speaks French.

I think that this event can tell girls that they can do any rivers guys do. You just have to take your time to progress correctly, but at the end you can do it. Some people just want class 1/3. Sometimes guys put girls aside, but there is no need. They need to be empowered.

For sure it is being with all of the paddlers. It is a long trip… 2 weeks on the road. It is very fun to be part of the whole event…good paddlers everywhere.

Over the last two weeks, the woman’s division, a group of primarily three paddlers, set a new precedent for woman’s competitive kayaking. Whether surfing Gladiotar or the big slide in La Tuque, the female competitors rose to the immense challenge that is the Grand Prix… and in fine form. Marie-Pier Cote (CAN), Katya Kulkova (RUS), and Lou Urwin (NZL) were the only female competitors to complete the entire Grand Prix.

On the first day of competition, Lou Urwin from New Zealand got momentum going being the first to drop onto the intimidating Gladiator Wave. Her first ride she got pushed to the middle and ended up charging the big pour-over that sits behind the feature. Keeping her cool she punched the corner, caught the eddy, and went back up to run it again. Anyone who doubted the women would step up on these challenging courses were proved wrong on day one.

During the Big Wave Challenge, Katya Kulkova from Russia did what is being described as the biggest trick ever thrown by a female competitor. Her slick air-screw on the Pillars Wave earned her top spot in the freestyle competition and caused jaws to drop and the highlight video crew to call it a wrap. The Giant Slalom event, one of the most intimidating competitions of the entire Grand Prix, went to Marie-Pier who drove through the dangerous ledges and through pushy wave trains in order to take first place. The Quebec native was all smiles in the eddy, happy to have finished strong in the Grand Prix.

In this male dominated event, the women kept pace on and off the water. Raising the bar in both the freestyle and creeking competitions, all three competitors can hold their heads high after a grueling two-week effort.

- Aaron Capo Rettig

Marmora, Ontario

Around my house there are a few grade three runs. I moved up to the Ottawa Valley and became a raft guide and got into kayaking that way. It is pretty close to my house.

It is amazing... There are all these great kayakers, founders of all the current freestyle moves. Going out and paddling with them, helping me learn new tricks… this has been great and I have had a huge benefit. I started getting into creeking more and now that is a big drive for me. As of late I have been spending a lot of time in New Zealand.

I have been paddling now for 11 years. Biggest accomplishments… finding Gladiator wave 5 years ago… that was pretty amazing. I have done several first descents in a bunch of different countries and that is a great thing to show the community.

This is my fourth spring up here. I definitely rocked with the Stakeout crew, but also have been doing my own thing, searching for creeks and drops. Great memories… it is so untapped here.

I think it is more the exploration involved with creeking. The unknown… a bit of a survival thing. It draws me to it... not knowing what exactly is going to happen.

This event is definitely pushing freestyle into a new direction… 180 degrees from where it has been. The way this event is being run…. You see people that realize freestyle can be full-on… and in creeking the time trials event… no competition has ever been held on such a burly features.

It’s pretty amazing looking at the filed of competitors. I am happy to be amongst them. The format has been the coolest… it hasn’t even felt like a competition in the traditional sense. Most comp days I look at it like I am out paddling with a bunch of friends. It takes some of the pressure off. All of these amazing events have raised the bar.

I think the media is approaching this event with a goal of allowing people outside of the sport to gain some perspective... showcase what is happening here. I think they have pulled some good ideas out of those other sports. With freesyle especially it is hard for people to relate to what is going on out there. If you don’t have some sort of background knowledge of what the moves are… its hard for people to figure out what’ is going on. The “go big” scoring system has allowed people to see what is happening, and gives a bit more focus. Kayaking has never been a great spectator sport, so the media has really helped put a face on the event.

As a “professional” kayaker. Someone who is trying to make a living, there is an appeal of having a larger audinece seeing this…with hopes that it can become more feasible for us to make a living out of this. It is kind of a double edge sword. As a freestyle paddler you don’t want big lines, full eddies…. Creeking is a bit different. You won’t see massive crowds in remote areas. These other sports are a bit more accessible. Kayaking has a time-intensive learning curve.

It is more common these days to see people running super tall drops.. I can’t see the size getting too much taller… T-Bradt set the bar pretty high with Palouse. I think people will start running more technical drops. Sometimes they don’t look as impressive on video, but they are sometimes the hardest drops.

I think it is pretty much crucial. We are the people who are going to be affected by these changes… we are loosing our playgrounds. We are the biggest voices the rivers can have. I think every kayaker shouldn’t take for granted the rivers they paddle. People need to be aware and figure out what they can do on a local level.