More than 300 whitewater and kayak enthusiasts travelled to the far ends of the Squamish Valley to play for a good cause last weekend.
One of the area's best paddling and whitewater streams was celebrated during the second annual Ashlu River Festival Thursday to Sunday (Aug. 18 to 21).
Hosted by the Squamish Whitewater Paddlers and the Whitewater Kayaking Association of B.C., the festival saw paddlers celebrating the stream in a series of events, including kayak lessons, canoeing clinics, creek boat clinics, playboating clinics, raft trips, guided hikes, botanical herb walks, a slalom clinic and race, and guided trips on local streams.
"The festival went off great," said organizer Stuart Smith. "We had more people register for all the clinics, courses and trips, than we did last year. It looks like around $9,000 was raised for the provincial kayaking association's river conservation efforts."
The provincial association and the local paddling club, along with more than 30 companies, volunteered paddling equipment, guides, instructors, kayaks, canoes and rafts to help raise funds and awareness, and provided services to show people the river, the trails and the beauty of the area.
A guided "Herb Walk" brought hikers up the Sigurd Creek trail to take a closer look at the various medicinal plants in the area. And the more popular events included the intro to kayak clinics and the Sunday raft float trip on the lower Ashlu.
"We had nearly 600 paddler trips on the river," said Smith. "In the end one of the key highlights was the amount of support we had from various local businesses - from coffee and muffins in the morning, to transportation, promotion, and entertainment - the support was tremendous, and in total all of the local support makes the festival possible."Another popular event was the Junior National team members' introductory slalom race and clinic, which was open to pre-registered paddlers of all abilities, boat types and ages.
Kayakers raced against their friends' time or competed against the national team athletes' timed run.
Jazmyne DenHollander travelled from Chilliwack to run the slalom race. The 11-year-old has been kayaking for five years and said she found the Class 2 whitewater run "easy." DenHollander ended up finishing first in the Cadet category with a time of just under 68 seconds, a full eight seconds ahead of second place finisher, 12-year-old Jordan Gollner.
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