As the days start to shorten, the annual Canada Cup marks the unofficial winding down of summer on the playspot-laden Ottawa River. The 2023 Canada Cup hosted by Wilderness Tours and Ottawa Kayak School took place the weekend of August 25. The venue—the river’s most powerful and dynamic “low water” summer feature, Garburator.
The Garburator wave is known for serving up violent rides and big air. A flume of green water at the entrance of The Lorne rapid ricochets off the rock walls. The reactionary waves make perfect shoulders feeding a churning foam pile to create Garburator. Freestyle paddlers fly down the face of the wave and launch into every aerial maneuver you can imagine. The proof on display in the highlight reel produced by Casey Bryant Jones.
The Canada Cup always brings out a showing of local and visiting paddlers to have fun and throwdown. This year’s competition also provided an extra dose of excitement. Some of the biggest names in freestyle were present in advance of the upcoming ICF Canoe Freestyle World Championship on the Chattahoochee River.
The world championship hosted in Columbus, Georgia is set for early October. It will be held on perhaps the most powerful wave for the event since 2015. Fittingly, that 2015 venue was Garburator, and the 2023 Canada Cup provided a preview of the freestyle displays we can expect to see at the start of fall.
