The North Fork Championship is one of the most extreme kayaking competitions in the world as paddlers take on Jacob's Ladder and the Golf Course in NFC 11.
The championship returned to the Gem State after four years, and people came from all over the world to have a chance to be crowned the king and queen of the North Fork.
WATCH: Check out the video to see kayakers take on the different features on the hardest rapid on the river.
Sage Donnelly earned the title of queen of the North Fork as she won her second championship. Sage grew up in Carson City, Nevada but she has spent several summers guiding on the Payette with Cascade Raft and Kayak. Noria Newman of France finished second, and Darby McAdams third.
On the men's side Tad Dennis who lives in Boise got crowned as the king of the North Fork. Tad finished in the top five in three previous years. Alec Voorhees who grew up in Meridian finished second.
Alec has the most top five finishes with five in the NFC as he continues to show amazing consistency, although he has never won the crown. Kaelin Friedenson finished third, Dane Jackson fourth and Jeremy Nash fifth as the top five included all paddlers from the United States.
"This is my first North Fork and I’ve been hearing about it for so long, so, it feels like Christmas to be here," said Charlie Sutcliffe, who competed in the qualifier.
"The field of paddlers are out of this world, the amount of talent is more than any other kayak event in the entire world."
Spectators lined the banks of the North Fork of the Payette to witness the skill of the paddlers who needed to make every gate in a wild slalom course to have a chance at winning. The vibe was real as you could feel the energy in the air with the return of the NFC.
"The North Fork is awesome, the vibes are always top tier and the whitewater community is so incredible," said Jackson Blackburn, a spectator. "I love getting together with everyone here and watching the kayakers put their skills to the test down some of the gnarliest whitewater I’ve ever seen in my life."
The North Fork Championship started on Tuesday with the qualifiers and more than 200 paddlers attempting to advance on a rapid called S-Turn. Wednesday featured a down river race at Jacob's Ladder and the Golf Course where the field got narrowed to 30 men and 6 women.
Thursday was the main event as the king and queen will be crowned each earning a paycheck of $5,000. Aaron Pruzan was the driving force in bringing this event back and turning the NFC into a non-profit. Pruzan wanted to give the next generation a chance to compete, but it was the experienced paddlers on this class five section that stole the show.
This extreme kayaking event started with James and Regan Byrd in the earlier 2010s, the Voorhees family took it over for a few years and now Pruzan has helped bring it back with the motivation of giving the next generation a chance to compete.
"A big shout out to Aaron Pruzan," said Sutcliffe. "He’s the reason we are all here, he brought North Fork back and it’s really for the people and it’s pretty awesome."
