By CONNIE TABBERT
Editor
FORESTERS FALLS — There was much pump fist happening on stage and cheering from the large crowd gathered throughout the presentation of awards during the closing ceremony of the The 2015 ICF World Freestyle Kayaking World Championships held Saturday night at Wilderness Tours.
The closing ceremonies were elegant, yet befitting of an event for world-class athletes.
When it was done, four Canadians were on the podium and a couple of Beachburg kayakers just missed the podium.
Nick Troutman of Beachburg earned a third-place finish in Men’s K1 with a stunning performance in his final ride. His brother-in-law Dane Jackson was first and Mathieu Dumoulin of France was second.
Andrew Hill of Beachburg was first in Open Canoe.
Zachery Zwanenburg of Cornwall took home a bronze in Open Canoe K1.
This was Nick Troutman’s fifth time competing at a world championship.
“I feel pretty good,” he said. “The worlds just ended and it was pretty incredible. It was one of the best world’s there’s ever been in my opinion.”
Mr. Troutman continued, “It was an awesome experience. It was really cool to have everyone come here and surf the Ottawa River.”
Looking back to the final three championship runs, Mr. Troutman said the first two weren’t good, but in his final opportunity to make the podium, he had the crowd screaming loudly as he came through.
“It definitely wasn’t planned that way,” he recalled. “In my first two rides I had a hard time staying on the wave.”
He couldn’t explain why, because he put in many training hours and in the preliminaries he was always first.
He said, “Every now and then you catch your edge and flush through.
“You definitely cannot control the river, so, yea just a couple of unlucky flushes.
“Maybe some of the nerves were getting to me a little bit, but I was able to pull it all together for the third ride.
“I was pretty happy with that one,” Mr. Troutman said.
Being on the podium at his home territory was awesome, he said.
“Being on the podium… being local…on my home river… definitely a pretty proud moment,” he said.
His mother Paula Troutman was the main organizer of the opening and closing ceremonies and it didn’t go unnoticed.
“Mom put in a lot of hard work, just as a ton of people have,” he said. “Getting that big hug on stage was a great feeling.
“Everybody has their own kind of flair, and maybe I’m a little bit bias, but this was pretty incredible.”
Mr. Troutman is now off to the Adidas Slick Line World Extreme Championships in Austria.
Beachburg brothers Kalem and Quinton Kennedy finished in 6th and 7th respectively in the Men’s K1. Canadian men Devyn Scott, Joel Kowalski of Beachburg and Kalob Grady of La Passe finished 7, 8 and 9 respectively.
On his facebook page, Kalem Kennedy said he was “super stoked” and it was “absolutely amazing to have such an awesome cheering squad out there,” which included his parents Tanya and Dave Kennedy.
“(I) Definitely didn’t compete my best but still had an incredible time! In the end I finished 6th in the world for the junior men’s k1 division. I couldn’t have had a better week. Thank you to everyone who played a part in getting me to where I am today.
“(I) hope everyone enjoyed their time competing on garb as much as I did. All in all I had an amazing week!”
Katie Kowalski of Beachburg placed 6th in Women’s K1.
Emily Zwanenburg of Cornwall placed 6th in Junior Women’s K1.
Vincent Dupont and Chris McDermott placed 7th and 8th respectively in C1.
Matt Cuccaro placed 8th in Open Canoe.
In the Squirt Division, Lars Romeske of Beachburg and Matt Hamilton of Foresters Falls placed 8 and 9th respectively.
Canadians who did not place in the top 10 were Alex Maggs, Patrick Gamblin, Andrew Oxley, Claire Parrott and Marc Richard.
Closing Ceremony
Throughout the evening, emcees Paula Troutman, who was also lead organizer of the many volunteers who created the spectacular event, and Ken Hoeve, who was also head announcer during the live-streaming of the kayaking event, kept the event moving along smoothly.
It began in darkness at Wilderness Tours. And then the world was lit up as several can-lanterns were lit, lighting up the area. Then, the piper was heard and the athletes, many carrying torches and their country’s flag, paraded into the seating area amid many cheers from the audience.
Once the athletes were seated, four young ladies performed two Scottish dances.
It was then time for some fun entertainment as four athletes, called up in pairs of two, tried their hand at sawing a log.
The beautiful Ottawa River was a large part of Canada’s history, as was logging, noted Ms. Troutman. The museum display near the river showed logging that took place on the river years ago, she said.
“The display showed logs looking like toothpicks jammed together from shore to shore as far as you could see,” she said.
Much of it was done by hand with a buck saw or broad ax and great strength, Ms. Troutman said, noting the ax she picked up weighed 12 pounds.
“I could hardly lift it and I couldn’t imagine swinging it day in and day out, she said. “Those men worked hard.”
After calling two athletes on stage, one from Germany and another from Uganda, they were then dressed, even though a warm night, in a furred cap and lumber jacket to saw the log with a crosscut saw.
There was plenty of encouragement being shouted to them from those on-stage and in the audience.
Then an athlete from France and Japan were called to the stage, and also dressed in the lumberman’s attire, used the crosscut saw.
The four athletes participated in this fun entertainment as Stompin’ Tom’s song Joe Mufferaw was belted out over the loudspeakers.
When it was over,they received thunderous applause and cheers from the audience.
“We just watched people from around the world in Canada use a crosscut saw,” Mr. Hoeve said. “This signifies the unity of us as a world.”
Mr. Hoeve continued, “Look at this moment everyone. We are all joined here in unity, in Canada, and it all surrounds whitewater kayaking
“This is very special,” he added. “I want to thank you guys for allowing me to be a part of it as well as the rest of our announcers.”
Then, it was time to announce the winners in each division. It was wonderful to hear the national anthems from the countries of the gold-winning athletes.
The top three each received a medal and a small bouquet of flowers for their winning efforts.
As well, the gold winners received a lumberman’s jacket and a specially created trophy while the silver and bronze medallists each received a Wind River blanket.
Various dignitaries presented the medals, trophies and other gifts.
When it was time to announce the winners of the Men’s K1, Mr. Hoeve said, “In his final ride, this gentleman earned his place on the podium. The bronze medallist is Nick Troutman of Beachburg.” First was awarded to Dane Jackson of the USA while Mathieu Dumoulin of France won silver.
Gold and silver medallist in two different categories, Mr. Jackson was presented with a special gift from the Township of Whitewater Region by Mayor Hal Jackson and Councillor Charlene Jackson.
Ms. Troutman said the gift, which is the township’s logo, was hand-made in Canada by Robert Ladouceur, using 22 different types of wood.
“We have chosen one athlete whom we think is deserving of this award and it will be presented to none other than Dane Jackson.”
Mayor Johnson said, “On behalf of the Township of Whitewater Region congratulations and to everybody here come back and visit us.”
The end of the event was when the accolades were given to Joe Kowalski, owner of Wilderness Tours, opening and closing organizer Paula Troutman and event manager Matt (Sharky) McGuire.
Mr. Hoeve said, “There’s a gentleman that has gone above and beyond here at the world championships.
“Not only facilitating this event, but also reaching deep into his own pockets to provide for this event. He has been more than hospitable to us here.
“Please welcome to the stage, Joe Kowalski.”
Mr. Kowalski said while hosting the world-class event is special, there’s another reason 2015 is special to Wilderness Tours.
“It all started in 1975 and it’s now 2015,” he said. “Not only do we get to celebrate the world championships, we get to celebrate our 40th birthday.”
Mr. Kowalski brought to the stage Matt McGuire and Ms. Troutman, while Jana Krause was too shy to come onstage.
“These three people represent a lot of people,” he said. “They represent the 100-plus staff of Wilderness Tours, and the probably hundred-plus volunteers that Paula has organized who did a lot of good things here.”
A former student, soldier and river guide, Mr. Kowalski said he led a simple life. In the military, he recalled a saying that amateur soldiers discuss tactics while professional soldiers deal in logistics.
“The 2015 world championships was all about logistics and infrastructure,” Mr. Kowalski said. “For those here before, you probably noticed that it was a pristine environment. When we started putting this all together just a month ago, we were building roads, putting in power lines, putting in bleachers and putting that tower up for the Internet signal.
“None of that stuff existed and in a couple of weeks none of it will exist anymore.
“It’ll be as pristine as when I first came here 40 years ago.”
He noted this was a complicated worlds, having to put in infrastructure where there is no infrastructure.
“You probably noticed our toilets didn’t flush, that’s how backwoods we are,” he said, bringing laughter from the crowd.
So much had to come together for this world championships, including getting the Internet in for live-streaming and the scoring system.
“We need to thank Paula for all the pomp and circumstances, making it all come together in a spectacular way,” Mr. Kowalski said. “We need to thank Matt for his skills-set to combine kayaking, the sport and the technology.”
The Ottawa River is not dam controlled, so there were a lot of politics and mathematics to figure out, so the inflows would work to make the Garberator work for this event, he said.
“That’s Matt’s specialty plus bringing together all the technical aspects,” Mr. Kowalski said.
In 2005, Mr. Kowalski attended his first world championship, which was in Austria, and has been to more since.
“Prior to 2015, my favourite was Bus Eater in 2007 and I think with everyone’s help and with you fabulous athletes, the 2015 world kayak championships is absolutely the best,” Mr. Kowalski stated.
Casey Wade, the CEO of CanoeKayak Canada said it was great to be a part of the closing ceremonies.
A former kayaker, he has kayaked around the world.
“I am truly amazed with the athletes in this event,” he said. “It was absolutely incredible.
“In my view, in the future, this sport should be a part of the Olympic Games.
“The athletes here are incredible and I’m just so impressed by their talent and all the things they did in the water.”
This event would not have happened without the International Canoe Federation and the judges who came from six different countries to help with the event, Mr. Wade said.
He also thanked Mr. Kowalski and Mr. McGuire and their team of helpers.
“I thank Paula and the Whitewater Region,” he said. “The opening ceremonies, the closing ceremonies, were just great. I’ve never been in a parade before. I did everything but milk a cow in the opening ceremonies.
“It was really a community effort.,” Mr. Wade said.
There were so many volunteers working on this event, many in the background, whether serving food or working at the venue.
“It was you who made this event happen,” he said.
Mr. Wade finished with, “In closing, we’re so proud to be a part of this event. We congratulate all the athletes, including the team officials and the coaches — you’ve done a great job. The athletes should be congratulated.”
International Canoe Federation representative Lhuis Rabaneda i Caselles from Spain thanked everyone who made this event possible.
Logistically, it was tough to set up the Garberator, but it was done and a certain standard was achieved, he said.
“I thank the athletes,” Mr. Caselles said. “You guys deserve it. You guys have trained since 2013, you’ve improved your skills and you showcased today your skills on the Garberator wave.
“This is what is making our sport grow.
“Really guys, if you keep going in that direction, what Casey just said, we should be part of the Olympics, that will happen for sure.”
Mr. Caselles said the next world championships are in Argentina in 2017.
“Train hard and be ready,” he said.
“And now, I close the world championships. On behalf of the ICF I close these 2015 ICF freestyle world championships.”
Ms. Troutman then asked Emily Zwanenburg, who is the youngest kayaker on the Canadian team, to snuff out the flame, and she did using a slice of the log that was cut off at the opening portion of the Saturday night event..
Mr. Hoeve told those in attendance to look around and remember this moment.
“This is special,” he said. “Thank you all for coming to Ottawa, to the river, to Ottawa, Canada, for the 2015 ICF world freestyle kayak championships.”
Ms. Troutman then encouraged everyone to look up at the bungee tower to view the fireworks that would officially close the ceremony and the world championship event.
