Downriver Race

The Downriver race on Saturday morning was the first real event of the festival. The course was from River Kern put-in to the River Park in Kernville. The course was about 2 miles long and consisted of class II-III water. At Big Daddy the river squeezes against the right bank and drops into a series of runnable holes. 1.7 miles from the put-in is Ewing's where the river drops between some large boulders. The finish line was at the River Park in downtown Kernville where the crowd had already gathered and people were warming up for the Rodeo.

The competitors were divided into the following classes:

• K-1 Wildwater
• C-1 Wildwater
• K-1 Men Whitewater under 13-3
• K-1 Women Whitewater under 13-3
• K-1 Men Whitewater over 13-3
• C-1 Whitewater
• OC-1
• Sit-On-Top Advanced

After some warm up at the hectic starting area the wildwater boats were the first to start, each starting at one minute intervals. The second class of boats were the plastic boats over 13-3, followed by a start of the under 13-3 boats from an upstream facing position, these were both mass starts. The crowd at the finish did a great job of cheering on the exhausted competitors as they came in.

[Kern Festival] [Rodeo] [Slalom]