Claire O’Hara is a world freestyle champion and Payette River Games ambassador—here’s what she has to say about this year’s event:
“Where are you going to be on the 20th – 22nd June?
The 2014 Payette River Games (PRG) has exciting action and events that will be happening this year. This event is going to be even bigger and better than last year, and last year was pretty epic.
With over $100,000 up for grabs over the weekend this is lining up to be one of the biggest events of the year.
Kelly’s Whitewater Park is one of the leading freestyle kayaking venues out there. The waves and rapids have been built to be perfect for everyone to learn and develop their skills. The main freestyle feature (a hole with a perfect wave shoulder) has already proved itself as one of the best in the world. Allowing each and every move to be thrown it has already seen Stephen Wright throw down a massive 2,000+ point ride.
“This really is a great event on a fantastic feature, at an amazing venue,” says Wright, Winner of the Men’s Freestyle Kayak Event at the 2013 PRGs.
Come along, watch the action and even take part. Check out the website and see what’s on offer. It’s going to be non-stop weekend of action sports, activities and music with a lot of the top names in kayaking, stand up paddleboarding, river surfing and many other sports taking part.
If you’re coming to compete, enter online on March 15th. The number of events you can enter over the weekend is insane. It’s going to be non-stop fun. There’s the Boater X, Freestyle, 8 Ball, an expression sessions and kids events, with the junior and cadet class too. And there are prizes for them all. There are heaps of prizes for the kids in the junior and cadet tournaments and then a massive $50,000 prize purse for the kayaking events and another $50,000 up for grabs in stand up paddleboarding, making this the biggest prize money paddle sports event in history.
Win all the kayaking events and you could be walking away with a massive $6,750. Enter and win the SUP too and that could be $16,750. Insane! But don’t worry if you miss out on first place, as the organizers are paying out all the way down to tenth place for both men and women in the Freestyle, Boater X and SUP event and for the top three in the 8 Ball race. So there’s plenty of opportunity for you to get your hands on some money from the prize purse!
Plus there’s loads more on offer for the athletes than just competing and having fun. The guys and girls at Kelly’s are going to look after everyone with free camping, airport shuttles, t-shirts, live music, a Funday Sunday free beer from the Payette River Brewery and a free admission ticket to the Roxy movie theatre in town. Plus every athlete gets entered into a comp to win an iPad 4.
It fits in perfectly into the competition circuit as it’s the weekend after the North Fork Championships and Fibark Freestyle Event in the USA, which are just up the road. The event finishes just in time for everyone to head back to Europe and compete in the ICF Freestyle World Cup series as well.
The organizers really have thought of everything. Make sure you’re there the 20th-22nd June.”
Stay up to date on the Payette River Games website and Facebook page.
