Dane Jackson is undisputedly one of the world’s greatest kayakers. On June 17-19, at the 2021 North Fork Championship, he proved to us once more why he’s widely considered best in class.
Jackson laid down the fastest time in the Qualifier Race, The Boater Cross and, most importantly, the elite Jacob’s Ladder Race. Every year at the Idaho event, the “Jakes” race attracts a handful of the best whitewater kayakers from all corners of the world to battle it out for the winning time and a sizeable cash cheque ($5000 USD).
The rapid itself is an extremely pushy, class V+ section of whitewater that requires expert skill to navigate.
Jackson had extremely hot competition this year from the likes of Alec Vorhees (2nd place) and Jeremy Nash (3rd place), but still managed to snag the top spot on the podium with a final time of 1 minute and 52 seconds. See the full event results here and watch Dane’s winning run in the video above.
The women’s category had an impressive turnout too; the qualifying round saw 28 female athletes compete and 5 finalists battling down Jacob’s Ladder. Sage Donnely took home first place, followed by Natalie Anderson (2nd place) and Darby McAdams (3rd place). See the full results here.
