When 215 kayakers launch down western Idaho’s Payette River today, it will mark the return of one of the whitewater world’s most storied races.
This year, the North Fork Championship comes with Jackson ties. The event’s comeback wouldn’t have happened without the vision of Jackson Hole Kayak Club and Rendezvous River Sports founder Aaron Pruzan.
“We formed a nonprofit to bring it back,” Pruzan said. “Because really the event should belong to everyone..”
Four Jackson Hole Kayak Club alums pre-qualified for the final race. That includes Owen Doyle, Wyatt Doyle, Luke Landino and Driscoll Larrow, all of whom made finals in 2022. Ruby Milligan, also an alum, will race in the qualifiers. Nate and Noah Pruzan will line up against their dad during the qualifier round as the trio all vie for a spot in the finals on Thursday.
After a decade-long run welcoming the world’s best kayakers, organizers canceled the event in 2022 for the “foreseeable future,” hosting the race each year except for the 2020 COVID pandemic summer. Sponsorship and insurance struggles followed, causing new management to put the event on pause.
A slalom course, set along several miles of Class V rapids, make it proving grounds for the best in the sport. It’s even drawing recent Olympic contenders to the famous stretch of water along Highway 55, between Boise and McCall, Idaho.
In skiers terms, it’s akin to the Freeride World Tour’s Xtreme Verbier.
For the event’s original founder, James Byrd, it offers “the perfect venue to give kayaking a stadium like experience that traditional sports have enjoyed and kayaking deserved.”
Though Pruzan is a veteran paddler, he’s not sure if his expertise will hold up against his two sons.
“They’ve never beaten me at this qualifier,” Pruzan said. “[It’s] probably going to happen this year.”
