Roger Paris
Champion, Pioneer, Explorer, Innovator, Teacher
Like many European boaters, Roger Paris, a Frenchman, came to Salida for the Arkansas River Races,FIBArk, ready for competition, good times, and whitewater. Traveling with his coach, Andre Pean and friend Claude Neveu, Roger entered the 1953 Downriver Race, placing third using a folding kayak instead of his familiar C-1 canoe. In 1954, seven French racers returned to Salida. Roger won the Downriver Race that year and his sister, Raymonde and Jeanette Pean, entered the Slalom and Downriver Races (C-2), becoming the first women to paddle the entire Downriver course.
Every year, Roger returned to Salida winning the FIBArk Downriver Race in 1956 and again in 1958, using a revolutionary fiberglass kayak. In the early 60’s, Roger immigrated to Colorado where he spent years exploring the rivers and mountains of the American West paddling, climbing, and skiing. In 1964, at the invitation of his friend Walter Kirschbaum, a legendary German paddler, Roger and his wife Jackie settled in Carbondale to teach kayaking at the Colorado Rocky Mountain School (CRMS). Later, he started his own school where he taught young paddlers using his advanced, refined paddling techniques. Roger is a legendary whitewater champion who has greatly contributed to our FIBArk history and has forever influenced the kayaking through his exploration and teaching.
Erich Seidel
Champion, Explorer, Adventurist, Outdoorsman
A German kayaker sponsored by Klepper, Erich Seidel first came to Salida in 1953 and paddled his way to become the champion of the Classic FIBArk Downriver Race. In the same year, he and his German friend Theo Bock set up a slalom course on the Arkansas River to demonstrate gate running, thus introducing slalom racing to FIBArk and into whitewater sports in America. The following year, Erich and his wife Helga settled in Salida and in 1955 immigrated into the US. Erich, along with former German and fellow Salidan Xavier Wuerfmannsdobler, explored and paddled the rivers of the western frontier and together influenced many local paddlers. One young Salidan, Eric Frazee, represented the United States in the 1957 World Champion Slalom in Germany at the young age of 17! Although a small man in stature, Erich was a whitewater technician, driven to explore the rivers of Colorado, Utah and California. One early spring, Erich made the 1st successful descent down Brown’s Canyon where he fell into a huge hole. He escaped in one piece, but his boat foldboat did not. The hole bears the name Seidel’s Suck Hole and is a favorite and dreaded rapid of local kayakers and rafters. Erich paddled throughout his life, enjoying nature and the sense of freedom he felt from being outdoors. In the 1970’s, he moved to New York before returning eventually to Germany. Erich Seidel passed away in 2003, but his memory and contributions to FIBArk and the sport of whitewater paddling will never be forgotten.
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