AUSTRIA — Beachburg kayakers Nick Troutman and Joel Kowalski have been lifelong friends, teammates and competitors.
Both 25, Joel is ranked 3rd and Nick 4th in the world in whitewater kayaking as of this past spring’s prestigious invitation-only event, the Whitewater Grand Prix, which took place as a multi-stage multi-discipline event across Ontario and Quebec.
This weekend they are competing in the 2014 Adidas Sickline Extreme Kayak World Championships on the Wellerbrucke River in Oetz (Otztal) Tirol Province, Austria. There are 150 of the world’s top whitewater racers competing for the title in Austria.
The two Whitewater township competitors are hoping to return home with the top hardware.
Nick and Joel have been kayaking together since they were 13 years old. They played hockey together in Cobden¹s Muskrat Voyageurs and Beachburg Bulls.
They began their kayaking careers together at the Wilderness Tours Ottawa Kayak School:
Keener Program, a high-end youth-development program with an athletic component in whitewater kayaking. Many other of the world¹s top whitewater kayakers have since emerged from this program.
Nick and Joel have been competing with, and against, each other for many years. They are each other¹s greatest team-mates, and often biggest competition. Nick won the World Championships of freestyle kayaking in Thun, Switzerland in 2009, Joel was right there nipping at his heels and placed 5th that year.
Freestyle is practiced in six-foot freestyle kayaks where the hulls are shaped like surf boards. The aim is to surf standing river waves and perform aerial maneuvers (or tricks) while staying on the wave. In competition, a limited surf time of 45 seconds gives athletes the opportunity to perform as many different tricks as possible. Harder, more aerial tricks are worth more points. The athlete who can rack up the most points in a surf wins. The Ottawa River is internationally known as the absolute best river in the world to practice freestyle kayaking, which explains the dominance of kayakers who grow up here and choose to practice here.
It’s also why Ottawa was chosen to host the 2015 Freestyle Kayak World Championships, the only river in history to host the event not only twice but 3 times (1997, 2007, 2015). The event is being hosted by Wilderness Tours.
Extreme Racing, which is what they are competing in this weekend, is practiced in nine-foot creek kayaks and takes place on very steep sections of river, sometimes including waterfalls. The goal is to get from start to finish in the fastest time possible to win. Mistakes like flipping over or getting crashed on by waves will slow a kayaker down and cost him or her the win.
Nick is from Beachburg, and is the son of Rick and Paula Troutman. Joel grew up just outside of Beachburg on Grants Settlement Rd, across from McCoy¹s Chute (the first rapid on the popular Wilderness Tours rafting route). He is the son of Joe and Susan Kowalski.
