The North Fork Championship

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The North Fork Championship is a whitewater kayaking extreme race located on the North Fork of the Payette River, just north of Banks, Idaho. The North Fork of the Payette River is one of the most well known class V rivers in the world, most notably for the extremely continuous big water. The first race was held in 2012 and has become an annual race. The North Fork Championship, or NFC, on or around the second weekend in June and brings the best whitewater kayakers from around the world to race down the infamous rapid called “Jacob’s Ladder”. The NFC is unique in the sense that it takes an extremely dangerous and difficult rapid, and forces the racers to make different maneuvers in the rapid that are very challenging and that they wouldn’t normally choose to run.

Race Format

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Elite Race

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The main event of the weekend on Saturday is the Elite Race on Jacobs Ladder. To race down Jacob’s Ladder, one must be invited in one of three different ways: take top 5 in the Expert Race (the qualifier), be previously voted in as one of 15 racers by The Trick Force, or be part of The Trick Force (the top 10 finishers in the previous years race).  The be voted in, paddlers must submit an application, stating why they believe they are capable of racing, as well as why they should be invited.

The Elite Race is an extreme slalom time trial. Each racer goes down the course one at a time to have the fastest time, while also navigating around “gates” that are determined by the organizers to make the racers do challenging and difficult maneuvers. Failure to go on the correct side of the gate results in a 50 second penalty, and touching the gate results in a 5 second penalty. Each racer gets 2 runs down the course, and the fastest time is recorded for the results

Expert Race

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The Expert Race serves as the race that allows anyone that is capable to paddle the whitewater. It is held down on the “lower 3” section on the North Fork. The race goes through two rapids named Juicer and Crunch. These rapids are still class V, but more manageable for a wider variety of people compared to Jacob’s Ladder. About 100 racers go one at a time to have the fastest raw time. Motivation can be to just get out and race, beat their friends, or try and qualify for the Elite Race.

Boater X

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The Boater X is a head to head race locate on a rapid called S-turn. The top 35 racers from the Expert Race, along with the invited Elite division are allowed to compete in this race. The Boater X is not timed, it is just simply a tournament style head to head, with the top half of the racers in each heat moving on to the next round.

Results

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2016: NFC V

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Elite Division

Place Rider Bib Time
1 Dane Jackson 2 1:57.60
2 Tad Dennis 16 1:58.28
3 Kyle Hull 9 1:59.00
4 Alec Voorhees 5 2:00.31
5 Aniol Serrasolses 4 2:00.53
6 Joe Morley 11 2:01.67
7 Nick Troutman 12 2:08.90
8 William Griffith 18 2:10.35
9 Rush Sturges 17 2:10.71
10 Evan Moore 03 2:11.82
11 Isaac Levinson 3 2:11.93
12 Kalob Grady 10 2:14.35
13 Tren Long 6 2:16.61
14 Sam Ellis 05 2:17.10
15 Dave Fusilli 21 2:18.01
16 Brendan Wells 15 2:18.09
17 Nouria Newman 8 2:27.66
18 Will Pruett 19 2:49.08
19 Todd Wells 7 2:50.72
20 Galen Volckhausen 20 2:54.52
21 Matias Lopez 02 2:54.09
22 Louis Geltman 13 2:56.18
23 Ben Kinsella 26 2:57.71
24 Phil Mitchell 04 3:03.60
25 Pat Keller 14 3:06.40
26 Aaron Mann 24 3:06.78
27 Pedro Andrade Astorga 01 3:15.73
28 Ben Marr 25 3:29.01
29 Sam Grafton 23 4:09.55

2015: NFC IV

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Elite Division

Place Rider Bib Time
1 Gerd Serrasolses 4 2:05.50
2 Dane Jackson 9 2:06.29
3 Isaac Levinson 12 2:07.42
4 Aniol Serrasolses 15 2:08.94
5 Alec Voorhees 13 2:11.19
6 Tren Long 03 2:14.13
7 Todd Wells 5 2:15.89
8 Nouria Newman 23 2:16.02
9 Kyle Hull 14 2:16.30
10 Kalob Grady 16 2:16.67
11 Andrew Holcombe 7 2:17.93
12 Louis Geltman 18 2:17.98
13 Nick Troutman 10 2:18.39
14 Brendan Wells 05 2:19.63
15 Erik Johnson 24 2:19.66
16 Galen Volckhausen 22 2:20.28
17 Eric Deguil 11 2:21.31
18 Rush Sturges 6 2:25.53
19 Tyler Bradt 17 2:28.43
20 Liam Fournier 25 2:29.23
21 Nathan Garcia 19 2:32.43
22 Seth Stoenner 20 2:32.49
23 Joey Simmons 01 2:33.16
24 Jules Domine 1 3:08.49
25 Brad McMillan 02 3:13.07
26 Eric Parker 21 3:13.22
Ryan Mooney 04
Egor Voskoboynikov 2
Evan Garcia 3
Joe Morley 8

2014: NFC III

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Elite Division

Place Rider Bib Time
1 Jules Domine 9 01:59.18
2 Egor Voskoboynikov 21 02:02.52
3 Evan Garcia 4 02:03.20
4 Gerd Serrasolses 2 02:04.63
5 Todd Wells 6 02:05.34
6 Rush Sturges 3 02:05.79
7 Andrew Holcombe 5 02:05.98
8 Joe Morley 14 02:06.27
9 Dane Jackson 13 02:09.49
10 Nick Troutman 25 02:10.12
11 Aniol Serrasolses 19 02:10.20
12 Ryan Casey 7 02:11.85
13 Bryan Kirk 12 02:12.36
14 Eric Deguil 17 02:13.75
15 Seth Stoenner 22 02:13.79
16 Galen Volckhausen 15 02:19.78
17 Erik Johnson 16 02:23.77
18 Momo Castillo 03 02:37.86
19 Louis Geltman 1 02:51.14
20 Alec Voorhees 04 02:55.79
21 Pangal Andrade Astorga 01 03:01.53
22 James Byrd 8 03:03.45
23 Geoff Calhoun 05 03:06.60
24 Isaac Levinson 24 03:09.07
25 Ben Marr 18 03:10.13
26 Brendan Wells 20 03:18.64
27 Brian Ward 23 03:22.02
28 Katrina Van Wijk 11 03:24.89
Kyle Hull 10 DNS
Tren Long 02 DNS

2013: NFC II

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Elite Division

Place Rider Bib Time
1 Louis Geltman 16 01:57.20
2 Gerd Serrasolses 11 01:59.81
3 Rush Sturges 12 01:59.84
4 Evan Garcia 8 02:00.88
5 Andrew Holcombe 14 02:01.16
6 Todd Wells 13 02:02.78
7 Ryan Casey 1 02:10.28
8 James Byrd 20 02:10.31
9 Jules Domine 17 02:13.38
10 Kyle Hull 19 02:14.36
11 Lane Jacobs 03 02:16.79
12 Chris Gragtmans 15 02:17.48
13 Ben Marr 7 02:25.38
14 Brian Ward 21 02:25.42
15 Ian McClaran 24 02:37.46
16 Geoff Calhoun 5 02:39.41
17 Eric Deguil 01 02:51.67
18 Dylan Thomson 18 02:57.12
19 Mikkel St. Jean Duncan 3 02:59.10
20 Ben Luck 22 03:01.20
21 Jakub Nemec 9 03:01.50
22 Tristan McClaran 25 03:04.45
23 Erik Johnson 23 03:37.99
24 Darren Albright 02 03:55.20
25 Marcos Gallegos 05 04:42.40

2012: NFC I

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Elite Division

Place Rider Bib Time
1 Ryan Casey 8 02:17.410
2 Tyler Bradt 12 02:18.530
3 Mikkel St. Jean Duncan 9 02:18.790
4 Wilz Martin 05 02:18.910
5 Geoff Calhoun 2 02:19.250
6 Pat Keller 30 02:19.540
7 Ben Marr 14 02:20.970
8 Evan Garcia 5 02:22.750
9 Jakub Nemec 7 02:25.900
10 Fred Coriell 18 02:34.310
11 Kyle Hull 4 02:35.06
12 Rush Sturges 13 02:36.84
13 Jonny Meyers 17 02:51.65
14 Tristan McClaran 22 02:54.35
15 Lane Jacobs 21 03:02.75
16 Andrew Holcombe 3 03:12.69
17 Chris Gragtmans 16 03:16.12
18 Darren Albright 02 03:17.50
19 Jesse Murphy 20 03:19.16
20 Dan Menten 11 03:22.56
21 Chris Mctaggert 06 03:32.78
22 Dan Simenc 19 03:39.84
23 Ryan Lucas 15 03:48.44
24 Ben Luck 01 04:08.53
25 Mira Kodada 10 05:56.00
Zach Fraysier 03 DNF