HUNTINGTON — One of the country’s oldest whitewater canoe races, down the Westfield River at the height of its flow, will return for its 67th run on Sunday, April 24. More than 350 expert and novice paddlers in both kayaks and canoes will brave class 3 rapids on the Westfield River. The Westfield River Watershed Association is the presenting sponsor of the race, including a series of race clinics to help those new to the sport perfect their boulder-deflecting techniques.
The race will take place on two branches of the Westfield River, which has received a designation from the National Park Service as “Wild & Scenic” due to its history and natural beauty. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will raise the water level at the Knightville Dam to add to the thrills of the event. Spectators are welcome along the river’s edge.
Competitors in the Experts class will start their races at Knightville Dam in Huntington at 9:30 a.m. The Classic (amateur) races begin at 11 a.m. from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation yard in downtown Huntington. Both races conclude before the waterfall in Woronoco, just outside Westfield.
“We are so excited to get back in the water after a long cold spell,” said race chairman and 21-time winner Edward Hamel. “What started out as a Hilltowns bar bet has become one of the two premier whitewater races in the U.S. I have run the race over 40 times and there is nothing like it for excitement, along with the great natural beauty of this river. We are encouraging paddlers who have never run a race to join the clinics to improve their skills and participate.”
This year the Westfield River Watershed Association, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting the river and its tributaries, stepped up to sponsor the race and help with the post-COVID transition. Registration will be done online, race numbers will be randomly allocated among pre-registered racers, and start times will be distributed in advance of the race.
“The Watershed Association was approached by race organizers to provide support for the race this year. It was a natural fit for us since the race has always been the Hilltowns’ greatest celebration of the river” said WRWA President Brian W. Conz. “Both the Watershed Association and the Wildwater Races started in the 1950s, and both count on the hard work and dedication of volunteers to promote the enjoyment of the river. The races are a part of both the history and future of the watershed. We encourage everyone, paddlers and viewers, to come out in April and continue this wonderful tradition.”
Advance registration is now open at getmeregistered.com/westfieldraces. Registration closes at 6 p.m. on April 21; no new registrations will be accepted on the day of the race. The registration fee covers the race clinics and a Paddlers Party after the race, with food available for purchase, music and entertainment from 1 to 5 p.m. at Strathmore Park in Russell.
Competitors will be divided into several classes based on age, gender, number of paddlers (one or two) and type of craft (open canoe or kayak). Expert races run 12 or 5 miles, depending on class. All Classic races run 8 miles. Registration fees are $30 per paddler until April 3, when they increase to $35 per paddler. The total fee for junior-senior tandem teams is $45 now, $50 after April 3.
Race clinics are planned for April 10, 16 and 23 at the MassDOT yard on Route 112 in downtown Huntington. Participants should gather at 12:15 p.m. for a discussion of water safety, with boats in the water at 1 p.m.
Running since ’53
In the winter of 1953, a group of friends were sitting around the bar of the Whippernon Club in Russell, regaling each other with tales of their canoeing prowess. Dick Waterhouse, the club owner, challenged the braggarts to prove their skills in a race down the Westfield River on the first Sunday in April. The prize would be a cold case of beer, courtesy of Waterhouse.
Word of the challenge reached Al Hodges, owner of the Wildcat Springs Restaurant, situated on the West Branch of the river in Chester, about 10 miles upstream of the Whippernon. Hodges added another case of beer, doubling the prize. With that, the course of the race was set, starting at one bar and ending at the other.
The Hilltown racers felt confident that the prize would be won by one of them and shared with the others, but on race day, a half-dozen canoes with a dozen hardy paddlers from around the region congregated in the chilly water. A team from Southwick won and took the prize home, leaving the locals to buy their own beer.
In those early races, a cable was stretched across the river and the stern paddler of each team would hold on to it until the signal to start was given. The race was a simple affair with a massed start. The winner was determined just as simply: the first boat to reach the finish line.
In the 1993 race program, John Tucker remembered competing in that first race. He said that it wasn’t well publicized and that many people weren’t aware of it.
He recounted, “We were coming along at a fairly good clip when we saw some fellows fly-fishing in the middle of the river. We hollered at them to “look out!” but they couldn’t figure out where the voices were coming from. We took ‘em by surprise — they never expected to have a canoe sneak up on ‘em like that!”
By 1960, the race field had outgrown the capacity of the river to allow a massed start, and the current time trial format had been adopted. Life preservers, which were shunned in the early days as unmanly, were being required by state officials who patrolled the riverbanks. The race had grown to the point that it was gaining notice in Boston.
In 1963, Jane Coffin became the first woman to compete in the race, when she entered with her husband Stewart. In those days, it was considered unseemly by many for a woman to compete in sporting events, especially with men. Today, women comprise a major portion of the field.
In the mid-1960s, under the leadership of Howard Mason, the race was moved to the East Branch of the river to take advantage of a more predictable water level. The free-flowing West Branch depends on rain and snowmelt for its flow, while the East Branch can be raised or lowered by artificially by controlling the Knightville Dam.
The race came of age in the 1970s under Merritt Andrews, and later Jeff Defeo and Jurgen Igel. Race classes were created to allow people of different skill levels, or with equipment of varying race-worthiness to compete more equally. The Novice Race (now Classic Race) was introduced, making the annual event into a two-day affair. Clinics were offered for the first time to introduce newcomers to the sport and to promote canoe safety.
Other changes followed: The predominance of wood-and-canvas and aluminum canoes of the early days gave way to ABS, fiberglass and Kevlar. Clothing that was barely distinguishable from normal work attire changed to lycra and neoprene, while drab colors became a veritable rainbow. Ash beavertail paddles were displaced by spruce and cedar, Kevlar and graphite; straight-shaft paddles gave way in large part to bent-shafts.
Today, the race looks much different than in those early days. The participants are a cross-section of the demographics of modern America and technology has changed every facet of race gear, from watercraft, paddles and clothing, to timing and communication of the results.
Credit: Source link
