Words by Reta Boychuk and Lisa Stocking | Photos by Rylan McCarthy
Kanfest is one of the major whitewater festivals for Western Canada and has also seen its fair share of global paddling pros show up too. It's a grass-roots event cherished by paddlers from all walks and has had some legendary parties to boot.
It's a non-stop weekend of events, catching up with friends, making new ones, and spending plenty of time on the Upper Kananaskis. This is a dam-controlled section of the river that runs year-round and features many great surf features and a national slalom course. This year, the festival ran from August 11 - 13, 2023.
Friday
On Friday, the masses gathered at Canoe Meadows. Whitewater paddling has transcended its usual niche of hardcore enthusiasts who exclusively live the lifestyle, now embracing participants from all walks of life at these events. Kanfest is a great display of this shift.
Events were filling up with an impressive 131 registrants attending this year's festival.
New events debuted too, such as the Volunteer Challenge, Raft Rodeo, and R2 Cross Raft Down River Race.
SUP Cross
The SUP Cross time trials were the first event on Friday evening to kick off the weekend. It was impressive with competitive clean times posted. After a brief break, the heats were set with intense close rounds for both men and women. Ed and Carlos tied to make the finals and in a head-to-head battle they gave it their all in an edge-of-your-seat race to claim a finals spot.
The women's final was a cat-and-mouse game of pass then be passed, Reta Boychuk was passed by Amanda and as the crowd cheered Amanda on, Reta brought out her signature move to escape the gate before her. It was a fun race, full of camaraderie, as best friends high-fived at the finish line.
Results: 1. Reta 2. Amanda 3. Jackie 4. Marilyn
The men’s final stacked up with local talent that didn’t disappoint. The first gate was a menagerie of bodies and boards vying for position. David, with his smooth slalom style, cleanly ran the whole course coming out in front. This left the rest of the men battling for position with Adali coming in behind David.
Results: 1. David 2. Adali 3. Guy
It’s important to mention that all paddling events at Kanfest had equal payout, prize values, and recognition for both men’s and women's races.
Raft Rodeo
New this year was the Raft Rodeo, modeled after Fibarks Wild and Wet Event. The rules are simple: ride the waves, but being silly and having style matter too!
A smaller turnout for this inaugural event but lots of laughs! The teams were from River City Repair and Endless Adventure! We can’t wait to see more rafts and more teams next year!
Saturday
Saturday morning the paddlers awoke to sunny skies and smiles! First up was Extreme Kayak Slalom Cross. Thanks to the Waterwerks Kayak Club crew that helped us set up and run the event along with our keen volunteers. It was a head to head battle as the men and women tried to out paddle each other through gates and be the first one to the finish line!
The Women's Podium : 1. Alison 2. Ruby 3. Connie
The Men’s Podium: 1. Nathen 2. Caleb 3. Tom
Inflatable Rodeo
The criteria is simple: the harder you make event organizer Reta smile/laugh the more points you get! Just you and your inflatable of choice! Stoke points are awarded for surfs, funny maneuvers, innovation, and clean fun.
Vanness won the rodeo, surfing her barely inflated Jeep in reverse with one hand on the wheel while shoulder checking like a boss. Connie and the rocketship with the most laps of the day and one solid ride. Ellis set the stage by sending it off the boulders to get air points before the ride, he even trained his unicorn to surf on its head! 
Freestyle Kayaking
Kayakers of all ages came out for the freestyle competition. Kalob Grady, a Pro Jackson Kayak Athlete, was the official judge and used inclusive scoring that included some wicked tricks such as “slap the monkey”, “endos”, “loops” and “phonics monkeys”. During this event, the cheering could be heard radiating out of the canyon as everyone was going big for the biggest score and style.
The Comp was action-packed as the boaters entertained the crowd by getting air under their boats as they flipped and bounced. We had hair flips, and even the old-school paddle tail made an appearance!
The Women's Champions: 1. Connie 2. Robyn 3. Ally
The Men’s Champions: 1. Nathen 2. Caleb 3. Braeden
R2 Cross
The teams rallied together for the final paddling event on Saturday. This was the first time Kanfest hosted a raft cross event. It turned out to be the most entertaining event of the weekend.
A total of three teams of two each showed up with a raft and we made a plan to do three races and the best of the three took the title! Each team would paddle each raft and the rafts would always start in the same order at the start of each race.
Braeden and Alley took Round 1 with a clean course and teamwork in the Badfish ARK 10’6 raft and Chris and Gord made Round 2 look easy as they boofed cartwheel corner before the finish line! And the final round was a hard fought battle coming down to the final moments, a video review and Braden and Alley taking the first ever R2X title!
“I have never seen such an amazing exhilarating finish to a race as the raft cross finish.
Photo finish, with people diving out of the raft trying to finish first!”
-Mark Taylor (Raft Cross volunteer)
Results: 1. Braeden & Ally 2. Chris & Gord 3. Tina & Ed
Raven Rescue Crew
Downstream safety for the weekend was provided by Raven Rescue. They were a key part of safety at many of our events like SUP Cross, Inflatable Rodeo, Survivor, all of our down river events and more!
Raven Rescue Ropes Challenge
The nightly festivities kick off with the dryland throwbagging challenge. This year we had a highly competitive event which involved 15 teams (three people per each team) doing the challenge!
The teams compete in heats of three. For points, each team gets 1 min at their target and 1 min to transition to the next station. The stations that are 10’ away are worth 1 point, 20’ away are worth 5 points and 45’ away are worth 10 points. The top three teams, based on points overall, move on to the final.
It came down to a throw off between the final teams because they were so amazing at making tosses!
Result: The Misfits took this year's Raven Ropes Challenge crown!
Party Time
As night fell, a dance party took over. Last year’s band, the Fairy God Brothers, was back this year with a blend of covers and originals that kept the party going into the night. Despite being tired, everyone was up dancing and rocking through the night.
Sunday
After a night of partying and 2 days of events under everyone's belts, it was time to rally for one final day to close out the weekend.
Survivor Sunday!
The goal of this game is to be the last person standing in the current above Green Tongue.
Must have full PPE, footwear, PFD, and helmet to compete.
How long will you hold on during the rush of water as the Kananaskis River is turned on?
The last man in the current: Winston!
“I was cold and my friends were by my side. Then I was all alone because I was the last to survive!”
This event was made possible by Raven Rescue managing safety and volunteer throwbaggers who helped encourage and clean up the water as people were flushed out.
Ball Race
As the CANRVRSUP team dropped the balls into the current, the kayaks waited in the eddies for their balls to bobble and bounce through Widowmaker hoping they wouldn't get surfed on the way. There were two teams in hot pursuit of the finish line as they tried to get all four paddler’s boats and the balls to the back of Reta’s GMC.
Team: Shaka Shakas taking the Ball Race title until 2024!
Down River Races
Our final event of the weekend, the one with the most participants, were the Down River races. These races start either above or below Widowmaker, depending on the craft used, and finish at either the Canoe Meadow’s Staircase or at the bottom of the race course. The first person to the finish line wins the race.
We always encourage the participants to ensure that they help each other if anyone struggles or needs support along the way.
Once again, we had volunteers in rafts and kayaks, along with our Raven Rescue crew, running safety at our harder more challenging Rapids. We had some excitement off the start as racers paddled hard in their kayaks, stand up paddle boards, inflatable kayaks or rafts.
This year was the first year we created an inflatable category and it is a category that will stick around every year from now on. Maybe next year, we will let the inflatable Rodeo creatures join the race too.
Kayak Advanced Womens: 1. Ellisa 2. Connie 3. Hannah
Kayak Advanced Mens: 1. Caleb 2. David 3. Braeden
Kayak Womens Intermediate: 1. Ruby 2. Gale 3. Lea
SUP Womens: 1. Amanda 2. Jackie
SUP Mens: 1. Paul 2. Adli 3. Carlos
Raft
Chis, Radison, Tye
Nathen, Tom, Dave
Ellis, Adam
All podiums received, in Kanfest Tradition, one of our Beer Glasses and a custom medal made by the RVR gal herself @reta.sends with her new endeavor 2theRVR creations.
The Volunteer Challenge
The best event yet. It's simple -- the more events you sign up for as a volunteer, the more points you get. The top seven people were awarded the showcase prizes and the next three rounding out the Top 10 had the first choice out of the raffle table.
This event proved to be an exciting competition for those that were maybe injured or had specific skills that could be of value over the weekend.
In each event we had people signing up for gates, judges, starters, finishers, set up, teardown and camp clean up.
I would like to say Thank You to everyone at Kanfest. The camp clean up crew reported nothing to clean up on both Saturday and Sunday morning. Way to leave no trace!
Your Top 10 Volunteers & Prizes
1: Sue - Badfishsup River Tube from CANRVRSUP
2. Leah - Waterproof Backpack from Jaylife13
3. Riley - $100 Gift Card from AQ Outdoors
4. Doug - $100 Gift Card from AQ Outdoors
5. Tom - $100 Gift Card from AQ Outdoors
6. Jauc - $100 Gift Card from AQ Outdoors
7. Brian - Waterproof Waist Pack from Jaylife13
The following people got to choose from the swag draw first:
8. Caleb
9. Nathen
10. Ben
THANKS TO ALL THE SPONSORS who made it possible to run this amazing event!
AQ Outdoors, Endless Adventure, Just Liquid Sports, Raven RSM, CANRVRSUP, Badfish SUP, Sunbelt Rentals, Jaylife13, River City Repair, Yip Yak, The Fairy God Brothers, Alberta Whitewater Association, Jackson Kayaks, NRS, Kokatat, Aquabound, Alberta Slalom, Captain Greenshirt Collective, Kelsey’s Caravan. 
SEE YOU IN 2024 AT CANOE MEADOWS - can it be better yet?
Written by:
Lisa Stocking & Reta Boychuk
@love_nsup @reta.sends @kanfestab
Photos Provided by: Alberta Whitewater Association
Photographer: Rylan McCarthy @rylansphotolife adventurestartshere.ca
AQ Outdoors Contact
Edmonton: (p) 780 463-4892 (e) info@aquabaticsedmonton.com
Calgary: (p) 403 288-9283 (e) info@aqoutdoors.com
