BOISE, Idaho — The North Fork Championship is an extreme kayaking race that brings the best paddlers in the world to Idaho to take Jacob's Ladder on the North Fork of the Payette River.
The Voorhees family made an announcement on Friday that the race is cancelled in 2023 and it might never return.
Insurance is the biggest reason for the cancelation as the American Canoe Association's insurance dropped them earlier this year, this has caused a domino effect for class five whitewater races, the Gore Canyon race in Colorado got cancelled in August, the Feather Fest race in California was cancelled in September and it's the NFC.
"It is with heavy hearts that we make this announcement many tears were shed during this process," said Jody Voorhees. "We can't run a class five race without insurance for the kayakers."
However, insurance wasn't the only factor, the growth of the event has been undeniable especially in the years following the pandemic, Jody told us they estimated close to 10,000 people at last year's event.
The race takes place along highway 55 in the canyon where there's only room for the road and the river, organizers worked with the Idaho Transportation Department to close off a passing lane to allow enough room for the event at the turnout next to Jacob's Ladder.
In the four years I covered this event I have not seen or heard about any incidents or injuries, Jody told us there has never been an insurance claim, I've always felt there was a bigger chance of an incident on the highway or with a spectator falling in the river as crowds packed the rocks next to the rapid.
"My boys have been running this river since they were ten-years-old," said Jody. "I always felt more nervous about them driving the highway than I did about them running the class five rapids."
The Voorhees family deserves a ton of credit for hiring Mav Event Services to manage parking and the crowds, but it is not just the main event, the North Fork Championship also outgrew the small town of Crouch where they held the award ceremony.
Jody also told us the state of the economy made it difficult for the sponsors to continue their support, but no matter what happens moving forward, this event forever changed the kayaking world, below is a mini-documentary I put together a few years ago.
The North Fork Championship was created by James and Regan Byrd and the NFC grew into one of the biggest kayaking events in the world culminating with the world championship in 2019, this extreme race helped vault kayaking into an entirely new realm.
"This is the creme de la creme, there is no question the people racing in the North Fork today are the best in the world," said legendary kayaker Rob Lesser who is credited with the first full descent of the North Fork in 1977. "Very few people were kayaking the North Fork."
This event brought the best of the best from Dane Jackson, to Noria Newman and people looking to prove themselves on one of the toughest races in the world, it drew in people from Europe, South American and all over the country.
My favorite part was watching the Voorhees brothers grow, Alec is the only person to compete in all ten competitions and Hayden won the crown last year, Jody told us that had nothing to do with their decision. Idahoan Ryan Casey from Sun Valley won the first North Fork Championship.
"My youngest boy Connor nearly qualified last year," said Jody. "He is really upset that he will never have a chance to race in the North Fork Championship, the boys are having a difficult time with this decision."
The news has hit the whitewater community especially hard, people love coming to Idaho for this race and it's a rare extreme sporting event where anybody can show up and try to qualify for the main event.
The North Fork Championship may never happen again, to even have a chance the whitewater community will have to figure out the insurance issue and someone with deep pockets will likely have to take over, but it won't be the Voorhees family, who told us if it ever does return it will likely be a brand new event.
