Story by
70th Westfield River Wildwater Canoe Race — less drama, more paddling
- Story by
- 70th Westfield River Wildwater Canoe Race — less drama, more paddling
70th Westfield River Wildwater Canoe Race — less drama, more paddling
Beginner, intermediate and expert canoers, kayakers and stand-up paddle boarders launched early Saturday morning to complete the 70th running of the Westfield River Wildwater Canoe Race, the longest continuous canoe race in America. This year, there was less drama and more racing than last. Race Director Harry Rock said rather than a nearly disastrous 2024, the race is on solid financial footing this year and seeing more people wanting to take part.
Also, this year, the Army Corps of Engineers added to the challenge of the expert run by adding more than 50 percent more flow.
Advertisement
"We have 1,000 CFS (cubic feet per second) coming out of the Knightville Dam, but then we got a second, additional flow of 600 CFS coming from the Littleville Dam," Rock said. "The East (Branch) looks hot. It's a good level. It's a great level. The higher you are, the better."
The East and Middle branches of the river meet just downstream from the expert launch at the base of the Knightville Dam. The additional flow from each of the dams would meet there and provide an exceptional ride for the experts. The Classic Race starts in downtown of Huntington at the DPW yards. It is on the West Branch of the river. It will not benefit from the Army Corps of Engineers releases.
"The West Branch is going to be scratchy (canoes dragging on river bottom gravel)," Rock said. That's all-natural flow."
The expert class race ends 5 miles from the launch at the state pull-off across Route 20 from the Hilltown Health Center in Huntington. The Classic Race runs eight miles to the pontoon bridge in Woronoco, not far from Strathmore Park, where an end-of-race party celebrates another year on the water.
Advertisement
It was a special year for former Race Director Jeff DeFeo. He completed his 50th run down the course.
"A friend of mine asked me to do it back in 1974 or '75. He had an old aluminum canoe. That's what started it. We kept coming back and each time we got a little further along the course before we dumped," he laughed. "I can't imagine not doing it."
DeFeo ran this year's race solo.
Tim Gamble prepared his canoe for his 40th year running the Wildwater Race.
"This is a great tradition," he said. "It gets into your blood. I taught at Gateway (Regional High School) for 33 years and I tried to get a whole new class of paddlers out here every year. I try to get as many people to try the sport as I can."
Advertisement
Gamble would make his 40th run with his brother, Chris, as his partner. They have been racing together for 30 years. In another boat, Tim's son, Ethan Piers-Gamble, and his nephew, Garrison, partnered up.
Only one stand-up paddleboard rider took part in the expert class race. Last year, at least four accepted the challenge. Kim Tomar said she used to paddle on the Arkansas River, which is much like the Westfield, when she lived in Colorado. Now she lives in Enfield, Conn.
"My daughters got me started on the paddleboard," she said. "It's my passion. I went on a girls' trip with my daughters to Florida and we wanted to go kayaking, but the rental place only had two kayaks and a stand-up paddleboard. My girls said 'Mom, you got the paddle board,'" she said, laughing.
That's all it took.
Advertisement
Tomar said she wanted to get into the race last year but couldn't because of work.
"So, I got a new job, and here I am," she laughed.
As it was, she won first place in the paddleboard class.
All along Route 20, where the Westfield River parallels the highway, spectators took advantage of pull-offs and nearby parking to watch the racers go by. At the notorious Hill and Dale rapids in Russell, several hundred people lined the riverbank and the steep slope that led to the street level to watch as quite a few racers found out why the rapids are considered notorious. Lucky for them, rescue paddlers lined the shore and were quick to provide help.
Advertisement
What started in 1954 as a bar bet at the old Whippernon Golf Club on Route 20 in Russell has endured for 70 years.
Back then, nine canoes and their paddlers lined up on the West Branch of the river near the Wild Springs bar in Chester and ran downstream to the Whippernon. The winner got two cases of beer.
Old hands remembered that racers would periodically have to get out of the canoes and drag them over sand bars and gravel when the water was too low, then get back in and start paddling again just to finish the race.
In 1964, the race course was changed from the West Branch to the East and Middle branches, where the Army Corps of Engineers was able to provide some assurances of adequate water flow.
Advertisement
The race nearly ended last year when financial issues cropped up and organizers said they could not see the race continuing. Officials even posted on social media that the 2024 race was canceled.
Former race director DeFeo said he was in Florida when he saw the posting.
"I saw the post and I literally could not sleep that night. Some people who had raced called me to see if we could do something. We put up $1,000 and another guy put up $4,000 and they saved it," he said.
That post galvanized the whole paddling community.
Within days, Rock said officials received so many pledges of support that the race was rescheduled and ran as usual.
Advertisement
One of those who jumped in to help of John Raymaakers, and his companies J.L. Raymaakers and Sons and ROAR. Raymaakers made a large pledge, then tapped his circle of associates and got them to contribute more. He said it is not just about canoes or kayaks. He said he has been paddling the Wildwater Race for 20 years and he feels he is now among his friends.
"This is about community. My parents taught me about community. Everything is about the race. We used to go as kids to watch. My brother has done it. I've done it," Raymaakers said. "Right now, my brother and my sister they have young kids. They are all down at the bridge waiting to watch the race and have a barbecue. I can't wait for my kids. I have an eight and 11-year-old, and my daughter asked, 'Dad, in a couple of years, can I do it?' I was like, definitely!"
The list of sponsors has been growing, Rock said, but more are needed as expenses keep going up. Both monetary and in-kind contributions are welcome.
Rock said the organizing committee wished to thank the event's community partners for all the help they provided: the Huntington Police and Fire departments and the Town Board of Selectmen for their cooperation; the Russell Police and Fire departments and the Town Board of Selectmen; the Hilltown Community Ambulance; the Army Corps of Engineers; Mass DOT the Hilltown Community Health Center; the Massachusetts SDDtate Police at the Russell Barracks and the Massachusett Emergency Management Agency.
