Potomac Whitewater Festival 2011

The 2011 Potomac Whitewater Festival ran smoothly and safely and created lots of smiles on water and on shore, alike! We were handed a gift of great weather to which our event leaders saw awesome runs, enthusiastic participation, much-appreciated sponsorship, and partnerships with the National Park Service, Fairfax and Montgomery Counties and the US Park Police, river conservation colleagues and Bretton Woods Recreation Area. Best of all, our volunteer leaders made it all work darn smoothly: Ashley, Bill, Fern, Ginny, Jason, James, Jen, Jim, John, Julie, Koji, Miki, Nathan, Ned, Peter, Sandrine, Scott, Steve, Tom, Tom, Vicki, and Whit. When you see one of these stellar citizens, give them a shout out!

We thank Isaac at the Washington Post for a terrific snapshot of the river safety program, Great Falls Race and the event.

The event celebrates the Potomac River, and our ability to enjoy it. Help us continue to support and protect American Whitewater’s work regarding access to public lands by attending and helping out with the festival.

We look forward to seeing you at the 2012 Potomac Whitewater Festival!

Interested in learning to kayak?
Check out our Learn to Paddle page

The Potomac Whitewater Festival is an annual fund raising event that celebrates the Potomac River.

The festival's most dramatic and dazzling event is the Great Falls Race. This downriver race is a quick, adrenaline-packed descent of 60 vertical feet through the Potomac's spectacular class V+ Great Falls. Other festival events include freestyle, wave surfing, and squirt boat competitions, beginner whitewater clinics, attainment, slalom, and boatercross races, and much more.

The final heat going through the streamers in the 2005 Great Falls Race. Photo courtesy of Bob Leverton.

For the past nineteen years the festival has been supporting American Whitewater, the nations leading advocate for the protection of our whitewater river resources. AW represents paddlers' interests to restore rivers, eliminate water degradation, improve public land management and protect public access for responsible recreational use.

2011 Squirt Results

The squirt competition is a Potomac tradition. In the downriver category, Risa Shimoda tied with Steve Graybill for the win. In the eddyline squirt (aka downtime comp), Steve Graybill won with a convincing lead--more than 10 times as long underwater as any other competitor!

Downriver Squirt
Style points are doubled.

2011 Freestyle Results

In the K1 Expert/Pro class, Danny Stock led out of prelims and held onto his advantage to win finals. Simon Braun borrowed a boat to compete in the K1 Beginner class, and ended up winning it.

Note that the Expert/Pro and Beginner classes use different point systems, so the scores are not directly comparable between classes.

K1 Men Expert/Pro

2011 Attainment Results

Geoff Calhoun passed Peter Lutter late in the race to take the long course win, while Eric Johnson won the short course.

 

2011 Community Paddle Results

We held the Potomac Whitewater Festival two weeks earlier this year to get better water, and it paid off in a big way!  The river was a perfect 3.7 feet and we were blessed with sunny, 85 degree weather for the Community Paddle.

2011 Boatercross Results

Boatercross was the last event of the 2011 Potomac Whitewater Festival, and once again it was a huge success.  Twelve competitors met for the pre-race meeting at the rubble dam, including three women.

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