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The Event:
On August 18th to the 21st 2011, 38 competitors from all over Canada (31),
the United States (4), Great Britain (1) and Australia (2) gathered at the
Soulanges Canal in Les Cedres, Quebec, for the 31st edition of the Canadian
National Barefoot Championship.
• August 18th - Site familiarization.
• August 19th - East vs West competition combined with the Quebec Provincials
and the Canadian Easterns and followed by the National’s jump event.
• August 20th – Canadian National’s slalom and tricks.
• August 21st – Canadian Open (10 best men and 5 best women).
Usually an annual event, last year’s 2010 Canadian Nationals was canceled
because of a lack of participants due to a time conflict with the 2010 Worlds in
Germany. So for most of us, it had been 2 years since we last competed in a
National event.
Although the participation level was low compared to the last time that
Nationals were held in Les Cedres (in 2008 there were 48 Canadian barefooters),
in part due to many of the regular barefooters who were injured, a record of 7
international participants showed up for the challenge.
The Site:
The 23,5 kilometer (15 miles) long by 45meter (150 feet) wide Soulanges
Canal was dug by hand in the late 1800’s (1892-1899) to connect Lake St-François
to Lake St-Louis. In 1959, when the St-Lawrence Seaway was completed, the canal
was closed for navigation and has since then been sectioned because of streets
and bridges that have been built over the canal since. A bicycle path also runs
parallel to the canal which attracts many passing by spectators and permits them
to travel up and down the course safely. The section on which the competition
was held was a stretch 4 kilometer (2.5 mile) of perfectly straight, calm water
with side walls made of large stones that prevent backwash.
 
Weather Conditions:
During the four days of the event, temperatures varied around 30ºC (86ºF).
Familiarization day was a bit windy until a 45 minute thunder storm struck in
the middle of the afternoon. After that, it was blue skies and glassy water
until sunset. Friday and Saturday were near perfect conditions temperature, sun
and wind wise. Sunday however, although the water conditions were perfect, the
slalom and trick events were held under the rain. As skiers and officials voted
on if it was safe to jump or not, the rain stopped and the canal was smooth as
glass.
Boats:
Both boats this year belong to André Lefebvre. André, who was the only
person to benefit from the Sanger/BFC Canadian Promo program, offered the
organization to lend his 2003 and 2006 Sanger DXII and keep his new 2011 Sanger
DXII at his US residence instead. The organization gladly accepted his offer.
The main towboat was a 2003 Sanger DXII equipped with a Mercruiser MX 6.2L
(340HP) Black Scorpion engine and Super Fly High Tower Extension (SFH).
The second towboat was a 2006 Sanger DXII
equipped with a Mercruiser HO 8.lL (425HP) Black Scorpion engine and also
equipped with a Super Fly High Tower Extension (SFH).
Both these boats are for sale
by the way (actually just one, first sold out of the two), so if you are
interested or would like more information, contact me via email or BFC Forum PM.
Pick-up Jet Skis:
Two weeks prior to the event, a local Jet Ski dealer announced to the
organizing committee that the demo Jet Ski that he had the intention of letting
us use as a pick-up Jet Ski had just been sold and that he unfortunately did not
have any other used Jet Skis or demos for us to use. As a long shot, I Googled
“Motomarine” (PWC in French) + “forum” and fell upon a cool Jet Ski forum called
Motomarine.ca. I registered and started a topic asking if there were any
volunteers that would like to pick-up skiers with their own Jet Skis at the
Canadian Barefoot Nationals. 19 minutes later, I received a call from one of the
forum directors asking me how many I needed and that he would take care of
finding 2 Jet Skis for each day. All the volunteers showed up as promised with
some incredibly nice 3-place Jet Skis and did an incredible job picking up
footers and without a doubt contributing to the success of the event.
Gordie Croteau (QC)
Becky Moynes (ON) was the only competitor to do a back flyer!
Outstanding Performances:
In all 6 Canadian, one Australian and a World record were broken (or
pending) plus a Mens 5 jump benchmark was set (first recorded Canadian M5
jumper).
• Caitlyn Rowland set a new Women’s Open slalom record (13,1 pts)
• Duane Godfrey set a new Men’s 5 slalom (13,2 pts) and tricks (3500pts) records
• Duane Godfrey set a Men’s 5 jump (9,2 M) benchmark
• Ross Holden set a new Men’s 7 tricks (775pts) records
• Paul MacDonald set a new Canadian Men’s Open trick record (8850pts)
• Danielle Tipping set a new Women’s Open trick record (2550 pts)
• Brendan Paige set a new Australian trick record (9200pts)
• David Small set a new World trick record (13100pts)
Complete Results:
Easterns/East-West Challenge (August 19th) (Click
Here)
Canadian Nationals (August 20th) - (Click
Here)
Canadian Open (August 21st) - (Click
Here)
Mike Ozane (BC) was the only competitor to start from the pier
(tower start)!
Banquet:
On Saturday night, a banquet was held at the Holiday Inn (Pointe-Claire)
located about 25 minutes from the site. Medals were awarded while videos of the
athletes’ performances from the past 2 days display in the background.
Open Women’s Caitlyn Rowland (BC), Danielle Tipping (BC) and Becky Moynes (ON)
Open Men’s Gordie Croteau (QC), Paul MacDonald (ON) and George Weekes (ON)
A special ceremony was held to honor Richard Gray’s entry into the Water Ski and
Wakeboard Canada’s Hall of Fame. Richard was honored for his athletic
performances but was also qualified as a builder of the sport.
Richard Gray (center)
Waters Ski and Wakeboard Canada
also highlighted Caitlyn Rowland’s 2010 Junior barefoot athlete of the year
award, Becky Moynes’ barefoot athlete of the year award, as well as the Spence
Family (Mike, Debbie, Melissa and Michelle) for their 2010 volunteer of the year
award.
World Barefoot Center (WBC) awarded the seven competitors aged under 18 with
gift certificates valid for a full day of training at their ski school.
Next Year’s Nationals:
It has not yet been confirmed where the 2012 Canadian Nationals Barefoot
Championship will be held. Possibilities are Calgary (AB), Les Cèdres (QC),
Newmarket (ON) or somewhere in British Columbia (BC). Usually, locations toggle
between the Eastern (QC/ON) and the Western (BC/AB) provinces, but no rumors
have been heard so far…
Sponsors:
Special thanks to all the sponsors, for who without their generous
contributions, the 2011 Canadian Barefoot Nationals would have been possible.
Participating Sponsors were:
• Barefoot Central (www.barefootcentral.com)
• Sanger boats (www.sangerboats.com)
• The city of Les Cèdres (www.ville.lescedres.qc.ca)
• Motomarine.ca PWC club and forum (www.motomarine.ca)
• Multinautic docks (www.multinautic.com)
• Holiday Inn (Pointe-Claire) (www.holidayinn.com/hotels/us/en/pointe-claire/yulpc/hoteldetail)
Other Sponsors also included:
Education, Sports and Leisure Quebec, Water Ski and Wakeboard Canada, World
Barefoot Center, Caro & Derek’s mobile restaurant, Barefoot International, Morin
Insurance Group and Fortin Trophies and Certigard.
Organizers:
Special thanks go out to all the organizers who really gave their best to
make the 2011 Canadian Barefoot Nationals such a success. Many people were
involved and I will not risk naming them so I don’t forget anyone. I will
however like to thank the president Jean Lafrance who put in huge hours and even
sacrificed his 2 weeks of family vacation in order to make the event possible.
On top of that did an incredible job as a bilingual announcer for the entire 3
days of the event.
Photos:
Photos in this article are courtesy of Daniel Sr Lariviere, Gilles
Desrosiers, André Berthiaume and Josh Baranowski. Here are a few slideshows of
some of their best shots.
Tournament photographer Daniel Sr Lariviere
Click on the following links to
download .pdf slideshows of some of the photographs’ favourite pictures and also
of a newspaper article (actually made first page!). (Press Ctrl+L for full
screen)
Click Here to see photos by Daniel Sr Larivière
Click Here to see photos by Gilles Desrosiers
Click Here to see
Newspaper article (French)
If you would like more
information, you may contact me by email at
danieljrlariviere@yahoo.ca or PM me on the
under 1FootDan.
By: Daniel Jr Larivière(AKA: 1FootDan)
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