Each spring for 41 years, kayakers and rafters have gathered at the Wild Mile of the Swan River to prove their mettle on the Class IV rapids during the Bigfork Whitewater Festival. While that’s always made for a good show, no event has pitted athletes against each other with the daunting, punishing Wild Mile as a mere backdrop. This year, however, with the addition of a head-to-head rafting discipline, pairs of four-person rafts will wrestle each other down the river’s ruthless waters for blue-ribbon bragging rights and $1,500 in cash prizes.
As the centerpiece of the 2016 festival’s rafting roster, the head-to-head will wrap up the two-day event, held over the weekend of May 28-29. Rafters will first take to the water Sunday morning for the down river event. Results from this timed race, during which boaters sprint down the Wild Mile solo in a race to beat the clock, will determine match-ups for the afternoon’s single-elimination head-to-head sprints.
“Head-to-head is a really popular race,” said event organizer Beth Woods, who noted that it is a staple at other competitive rafting events around the country. “It’s going to be really awesome for the spectators. You’re not allowed to have intentional contact, but you basically play bumper boats, bump [the other raft] off the line so you don’t get stuck or beached or held up on a tree.”
Four Polson-based rafters paddling with the Flathead Raft Company team, which has competed in the 2014 and 2015 down river events, have been eagerly preparing for the inaugural head-to-head.
“It’s extremely competitive and I’m super excited about it,” said Brett Burns, manager at Flathead Raft Company and a member of the team. “The way it’s been set up, you don’t see any other boats on the water.”
None of the team members have ever participated in a head-to-head. But they’re watching videos and practicing both on the lower Flathead River and the Wild Mile whenever they get the chance. As much as rafting comes down to grit and strength, this event is also about strategy and figuring out how to turn the river’s features into tools.
“In head-to-head you run into higher chances of getting into an angle you don’t want to be at,” Burns said. “What’s definitely going to be part of the plan is you’re going to want the nudge the boat in front of you to turn them, which could be dangerous, depending on where you do it. But you can push them out of the current.”
To get ahead, rafters can try to hang their opponents up on rocks, push them toward the shoreline, or strand them in eddies. They can also gain an advantage by using their opponent’s boat as leverage.
The head-to-head gives rafters a chance to shine outside the festival’s most popular events – the slalom and giant slalom. Where nimble whitewater kayakers excel in these competitions, larger boats often struggle. These races ask boaters to thread a tight course of gates set along a portion of the mile (eight-10 gates for the lower slalom, 15-20 for the upper, and 10-15 for the giant slalom). Boaters receive a 5-second penalty for every hit gate, and a 50-second penalty for every gate missed.
“It’s harder for those boats to turn around the gates,” Woods said, “And we can’t set the course for both boats.”
The head-to-head is “going to be different, that’s for sure,” said Rob Millspaugh, another Flathead Raft Company member. “It’s going to be new and exciting.”
With more participants and events on both days, the kayaking events will still be the highlight of the festival. The boater with the fastest combined time from the upper slalom, downriver, and giant slalom will be crowned overall champion. With $3,500 in cash prizes for kayaks and $450 in cash prizes for women on the line, competitors have a lot to paddle hard for. Of interest to serious and professional boaters, this event will contribute to standings in the Western Point Series and Western Whitewater Championship Series.
Visit bigforkwhitewaterfestival.com to register as a kayaker, or rafter.
The annual triathlon, with a 4-mile paddle, 14-mile bike, and 4-mile run will begin at 9 a.m. on Sunday from the Swan River Road Bridge. Contact the Kalispell Athletic Club at 752-2880 for more information.