Nineteen years ago, Patch Bennet was one of 100 Canadian whitewater paddlers camping beside the wild Kananakis River, bent on taming its features in a long fiberglass boat. Many of the best whitewater shooters in the west showed up to test their paddling acumen against the glacier-fed waters in Hollywood Hole, leading to intense, high-calibre competition.
The event was dubbed KanFest, and little did the organizers know it would become one of the best river festivals in the province.
“In 1995, it was a lot more about the rodeo competition – doing tricks. It was a more serious competition back then, and it was on the whitewater rodeo circuit,” Bennet said.
Camping at Canoe Meadows, challenging purely natural features and a makeshift slalom course, paddlers in longish boats would spin and duck into the rapids, pushing the boundaries of their aquatic repertoire.
On Aug. 10, the 20th anniversary of Kanfest brought some of those first paddlers back; boats are now shorter, though, and the list of new paddlers is longer. Bennet returned and his team scored a win in one of the fun events.
“A lot has changed in the design of the kayaks. The design has allowed for different tricks and the river has changed. It’s gotten better every year.”
By 2000, Bennet joined the organizing committee and helped open it up to a much broader group of paddlers. Events such as the ball race, where paddlers team up to get their large inflatable ball across the finish line first, were added, and more families began to take part. Attendance grew from 100 a year to 200 a year, with fun trumping the competitive element.
“We added some less serious events and there was less emphasis on the serious rodeo competition.”
Bennett explains the reason behind the change was the desire to raise funds to fix the river and improve the paddling even more. Much of the work has been through volunteer hours and Lafarge usually donates rock to fix the river, however, there are still many costs and the paddlers dream big.
“The Harvie Passage Weir in Calgary got a $17 million upgrade. Even if we had one million, we could really make this place world class,” Bennet said.
The appeal of the Kananaskis is its consistency. Dam-controlled, TransAlta works with the kayak community to ensure a year-round flow travels downriver, allowing paddlers to work maintenance on the river as well. This year, water is still spilling over the dam instead of flowing through it, which creates its own set of issues, but does mean the water was much warmer.
“Dams are a love/hate relationship. It’s convenient, and being able to control the flow of the river gives us an advantage to build. Our courses are built to be good at that water level. At other places, you’re at the mercy of water levels,” said Steve Clemens, chairman of the 2013 Kanfest.
June floodwaters threatened to cancel this year’s event, as the slalom course was wiped out and the river banks widened considerably. Clemens said Kanfest, as well as the Canadian Whitewater Championships the week prior, were both in jeopardy.
“Most of the man-built features had gotten washed away,” Clemens said. “Having the river vastly changed and the weather, it was touch and go.”
Bennet said a flood hits the festival every few years, but nothing as large as this year’s event.
Those who did show up were mostly new. Clemens estimates between 35 and 40 per cent of this year’s paddlers were attending their first Kanfest ever, so the future of the sport is in good hands.
“We’ve been offering clinics at the festival. That’s been attracting younger blood,” Clemens said.
“It’s a perfect training ground,” said Bennet. “The Kananaskis is flowing year-round and you can practice everything from gates to freestyle.”
While numbers dropped to 160 participants this year, Clemens said that’s because several paddlers were leery to attend because of damage to the river. He said volunteers will work to fix it up and the province has a plan to greatly improve the Canoe Meadows facility. That work was slated to start this year, but was postponed due to the flood.
Bennet said he’d love to see more money from Kanfest flow back into the river to improve Kanfest for the next 20 years.
“It’s run by different organizers now. It would be nice to see the money go back to the event, and I think that might happen next year,” Bennet said.
