A small, but talented cadre of stand up paddlers came to FIBArk this year to introduce the sport to newbies during a clinic on Friday. Sponsored by Boardworks and C4 Waterman, the clinic attracted the mildly curious to the wildly enthusiastic to a calm stretch of the Arkansas River in downtown Salida.

More proficient stand up paddlers took part in an “Expression Session” Saturday on a new wave feature in Salida’s whitewater park designed expressly with stand up paddlers in mind. Among those wow-ing crowds along the river bank were some of the C4 Waterman sales force including sales rep Ryan Guay, retailer Earl Richmond, co-owner of Colorado Kayak Supply, Seth Hollar, a proficient enthusiast from Carbondale, CO and Boulder, CO athlete Nicole Duke. Though fresh from her second place win in the three-mile downriver SUP sprint held on Gore Creek earlier this  month during the prestigious Teva Mountain Games, Duke struggled to surf the wave in Salida, earning resounding applause from the riverside crowd whenever she succeeded in surfing.

Also showing some inland surf style were Salida residents Mike Harvey, who built the whitewater park in Salida and his good friend Zack Hughes, founder/owner/designer of Badfish Riverboards. Designed specifically for river surfing, Badfish Riverboards are all less than 7-feet long but have a girth of about 30 inches and a thick rail shape that offers ample volume to float surfers over 200 pounds.

On Sunday, daring stand up paddlers, Hollar, Duke and Vail SUP enthusiast Matt Paula competed in FIBArk’s Class 26-mile Downriver Race, passing through Class III rapids on the course that travels from Salida to Cotapaxi.

A quartet of stand up paddlers strutted their stuff during the SUP Expression Session during FIBArk. Seen above from the far shore toward the camera are Earl Richmond, Ryan Guay, Seth Hollar and Zack Hughes.

Unlike the the real BP tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico, this Hooligan interpretation of a flaming BP oil rig, shown above, extinguished itself in mere minutes. Thrilling spectators at the beginning of the course, the float pretty much disintigrated before it reached the main spectator zone where crowds lined both banks of the Arkansas River in downtown Salida for the perennially popular event. Nearly each heat of this year’s Hooligan race featured a BP disaster-themed float.The 62nd Annual New Belgium FIBArk Whitewater Festival, held June 17 – 20, is this small Colorado mountain town’s biggest annual event and one of the state’s oldest continuously held annual festivals. FIBArk, which stands for First in Boating the Arkansas, is the country’s oldest whitewater festival. It has expanded beyond downriver kayak races to include freestyle kayaks, rafts, stand up paddle boards and land-based events such as running and bike races plus free music in the bandshell in the town’s Riverside Park.

Darren Droge of Lakewood, CO is seen here before he got fully dressed up and launched his craft for FIBArk's perennially popular Hooligan race. A first-timer at to the event, Droge won the crowd's Best in Show award.

In the women’s division, recent arrivals Haley Mills and Amy Jimmerson both made the final cut. Meanwhile, in the men’s division, former National Team member and World Squirt Champ Dustin Urban of Buena Vista and Greg Parker, who is a popular seasonal kayak instructor in Salida, made the men’s final. All four were heavy crowd favorites, earning raucous support during tonight’s final in downtown Salida.

Of the four, veteran competitor and recent Teva Mountain Games champ Dustin Urban fared the best in the best-of-three-ride format for the finals. Though he entered in fifth position, meaning he went first in the final round, Dustin’s first ride was smoking hot, throwing down the gauntlet to the other four finalists. It was a lead only he himself topped, finishing with a top score of 1305. Urban was followed in second place by Jackson Kayak teammate Stephen Wright, the World’s third-ranked freestyle kayaker, who, despite suffering from a severe upper respiratory ailment, scored 1210. Rounding out the podium was Wave Sport’s Bryan Kirk with 1150  points who, earlier in FIBArk action, took one of the worst beat-downs of his career in the Pine Creek Boater Cross Race and is proud to note he didn’t swim. Though he finished both preliminary and semifinal rounds as the top seed, 16-year-old Jason Craig, the reigning Junior Men’s World Champion finished in fourth, followed by Parker in fifth.

Points-wise, the women’s division really amounted to a showdown between reigning Women’s World Champion Emily Jackson and her immediate predecessor, Canadian Ruth Gordon. By a squeeky-slim 10-point margin, Gordon bested her Jackson Kayak teammate to take home top honors, 500 to 490. Meanwhile hometown fav and rising star, at least on the Colorado leg of this season’s Western Tour, Haley Mills of Buena Vista took third with 230 points. Earlier in the season, Mills, a relative unknown on the pro tour, placed third at the prestigious Teva Mountain Games in Vail, behind Jackson and Australian veteran paddler Tanya Faux. At last weekend’s Lyons Outdoor Games, Mills was second only to Jackson.

In earlier FIBArk action, the names were the same but the order was different in the single-bladed paddle divisions. In OC1, it was  Jordan Poffenberger, gold; Brad McMillan, silver; Dan Jackson, bronze. In C1 the order of finish was Dane Jackson gold; Poffenberger, silver and McMillan bronze.

Highlights of the Sunday schedule at FIBArk are as follows: Junior Men’s freestyle kayak semifinal and final rounds begin at 8 a.m; the first division of the Classic 26-mile downriver race begin at 9:45 a..m.; mountain bike races on the Arkansas Hills Trails that start in downtown Salida, begin at 10 a.m.; the Crazy River Dog competition is at high noon; closing ceremonies and awards are slated to begin at 3:30.

Junior men. In first, second and third respectively, the entire contingent of  US National Freestyle Kayak Team members Dane Jackson, Jason Craig and Michael Palmer.

Apologies to the really fine competitors in junior women for missing results.

Senior women. Reigning Women’s World Freestyle Champ and Canadian National Champ Ruth Gordon, US National Freestyle Kayak Team member and reigning US National Champ, Emily Jackson, rising star, Kat Levitt.

Senior men (all in the Jackson Kayak All-Star 2010). Reigning US National Champ and national team member Stephen Wright, reigning Canadian National Champion and bronze finalist World Champion Nick Troutman and Arkansas Valley homey and World Cup bronze finalist Dustin Urban of Buena Vista.

This year’s FIBArk also saw a record cadet class of 15 boys and girls under 14 competing, a few of whom were cub cadets, under 10.

In late August, the national teams from countries around the world will travel to Thun, Switzerland to compete in World Championships where some of the same boaters who participated in FIBArk will be vying for world titles. Other US team members who competed at FIBArk included Eric Jackson, Bryan Kirk, Jonny Meyers, Eileen Campbell, Adriene Levknecht, C1 Jordon Poffenberger, OC1 Jake Ament, and Jeremy Laucks representing the US in both C1 and OC1. US National team members who did not make it to FIBArk included Rush Sturges and Chris Stafford, senior men; Jessie Stone, senior women, and  junior women, Tracy D’Arbeloff and Emery Tillman.

The annual parade is another example of the overall festive nature of our local community.  The parade gets bigger every year and features plenty of fabulous (sometimes a little ridiculous) local entries.  Also this year, Reggie Rivers of the Denver Broncos will be the honored guest in the parade.  Look for his float featuring this year’s theme “Folks in Boats”.

The parade will be held on F Street on Saturday morning, June 20th.  Parade entry forms are available on the new FIBArk website and at the Heart of the Rockies Chamber of Commerce.

Remember to sign up soon for your booth space in the park to promote your business or cause.  Booth owners can reserve a 10’ x 10’ space in Riverside Park to display their wares.  We invite you to use this opportunity to make contact with the masses of people who attend the free festival.  Corporate booths are $500 and non-profits pay just $250 for the four-day event.  Contact info@fibark.net to reserve your spot.

Sneak preview: FIBArk will sponsor two new events this year.  First is the Brian Dreher Sackett Street Raft Sprint.  This will replace the pro-raft race and will feature rafts racing from Marvin Park to the boat ramp just prior to the raft rodeo on Thursday afternoon, June 19th.

The second new event will be a mountain bike race in the Arkansas Hills.  This Sunday event will be held on the new trails behind Tenderfoot, beginning and ending from the F Street Bridge.

As always FIBArk will feature a bunch of free live music in Riverside Park.  More details on the final music line-up will be coming soon.  Or find out sooner by becoming a member of FIBArk on Facebook.