The 30th annual Gull Open Canoe Slolom race, held this past weekend near Minden, Ontario, was a great success with 84 racers and about 130 starts.

“It’s been called the Thanksgiving for Open Canoeists” said race co-founderWendy Grater reflecting on the 30 years of Open canoe slalom races at the Minden Wild Water Preserve on the Gull River. “We started with 17 foot canoeswith inner tubes and now have second generation paddlers competing for the medals”

The race has a wonderful atmosphere in an idyllic setting. The pristine waters of the Gull River attract paddlers from all over Ontario andit is a world class whitewater venue. “It is such a cool event” says eventorganizer Mark Scriver, “Between practice runs and racing up to 4 or 5 classes, you can get a lot of paddling in and everyone is so supportive and encouraging. It has something for everyone.”

There is camping on site and agreat social evening. Event sponsor Rapid Magazine hosted the Reel PaddlingFilm festival on the Saturday evening and Paul Mason’s Bubble street foam boat course was a big hit. There were lots of prizes provided by sponsors, Kenmark Snowsports and Summersports, Werner, Kokatat, Esquif, PadddlerCo-op, AquaPac, Predator, Canoewater Adventuring, Heliconia Press, NorthWater, AO Boatwerks.

Some of the world’s best slalom paddlers compete alongside parent and child teams that are all about having fun and getting new paddlers enthused about paddling whitewater. The 18 gate course was easy enough for all to enjoy but had some very interesting moves. 85 competitors competed in classes including men’s and women’s solo, tandem, and masters. The junior / senior tandem and mixed tandem are two of the mostly hotly contested classes. A Men’s Legends class (over 55) was added this year since the Masters class (over 40) was getting so large.  Results for this and past year's races can be found on the Gull River OC Race Results page and photos can be seen at http://www.flickr.com/photos/scriverpaddleski The event is always held on the weekend after Labour Day and the organizers plan to continue for another 30 years.