WHITEWATER GRAND PRIX 2011 COMPLETE UPDATE

OPS Team paddler Marcos Gallegos had the opportunity to take part in one of the most historic and epic events in the whitewater community. While his video entry didn't land him a spot to compete and represent Chile (This year anyway! Watch out for next year!) He was asked to be a safety boater for the event. This gave Marco the opportunity to not only pullout world class paddlers out of the water after swims! But, more importantly go out and paddle at these amazing locations before, after, and during off days around the competition. This allowed him to take his paddling to the next level, in both freestyle and creeking.

Words By: Marcos Gallegos

Two weeks of full on paddling, competing and bendering through Ontario and Quebec have come to an end. The first ever and most epic competition of this nature to happen in history, extreme whitewater kayaking at its finest. Here we show you day by day all activities held during the full two weeks of the 2011 whitewater grand prix.

April 30th. After the level 6 competition held on the champlain bridge we moved to sussex in Downtown Ottawa for the opening party and the premier of Rush Sturges latest film " FRONTIER"

Day 1 Training Day: The morning of may 1st after the welcoming party we load up gear and boats to move to Wilderness Tours on the Ottawa Valley which hosted the event, we head to the river for a practice run on the middle channel and later on we head to the cabins.

Grand Prix Edit # 1 "Opening party"

So after enjoying the ottawa valley after all the practice runs it is time for the first competition finally! Day three was the "Best Trick Contest" the wave chosen for this event was "GLADIATOR" so we all head down to the coliseum rapid were this wave is located.

Grand Prix # 2 stage one "Big Trick Contest"

Day four we left the ottawa valley and we started moving towards Quebec for the next event, but before making it to the rouge river where the next event was being held we stopped at The Ruins for a day session.

Grand Prix Edit # 3 " The Ruins"

After leaving the ruins we drove one and a half hours towards to the rouge river, again the water levels were on our side so we all knew it would be another amazing event, once setting up our stuff and spending the night on the rouge valley he headed to the river for the next event day 5!.

Grand Prix Edit # 4 stage 2 "Big Water Boatercross " on the rouge river

Day 5 was finished and we had to keep driving across Quebec for the next event. Stage 3 was the steep creek time trial on la petite bostonnais river in la tuque after 5 hours of driving and a bit more after all the poutine places the boys wanted to stop at! We arrived to the cabins we were going to sleep in and the next day was a day off so the boaters could rest or do anything they wanted to. The next morning was the time of the competition day 7 check it out! stout edit

Grand Prix Edit # 5 stage 3 steep creek "time trial" on la petite bostonnais river, Quebec

After finishing the steep creek race on la petite bostonnais we headed to the Mistassibi for the down river freestyle contest on the mighty Misstasibi river in St Stanislas QC.

Grand Prix Edit # 6 stage 4 "Down River freestyle", Mistassibi river

Grand Prix Edit # 7 stage 5 " Big Wave Challenge "

After the down river freestyle and the big wave challenge were finished we left misstasibi and we drove another hour and a half towards Chicoutimi, Qc. We were told there is 4 times more women than men which was sounding pretty awesome! Anyways, we arrived to the hotel where we received the keys to our rooms and later on we drove to the river to go check the place of the competition. The next day was the time to race one of the most amazing competitions i have ever personally seen in whitewater kayaking this was the event # 6 the Giant Slalom here goes the edit check it out!

Photos taken during the competition.