Ray Calverley - Last year, some ‘old school’ slalom paddlers set out to redraw the slalom rules and create a new event that would be fun to race and easy to organize on rapids up to grade 5.  This was their story.
Whatever changes needed to be made, one central idea had to remain intact.

At its core, slalom is a test of the skills needed to paddle whitewater.  However, if we want to run slaloms on really wild rivers you can’t even rely on getting to the other bank, so forget about throwing lines across, lets dump the slalom poles.  Instead we chose to mark the course only with targets to touch by hand, not with your paddle !  The second idea was get rid of the judges, is it really so bad if you get real close to the target but just can’t reach it, is your event over, well… Why?  The penalty we chose is that you have to do a 720 degree spin before the next target. 

We were on a roll at this point… what about Timing systems.  The problem is spectators don’t know who is winning and for that matter neither does the competitor, till he checks his time at the end.  So lets change the race from a time trial into a series of head-to-head match races.  Win your heat, go forward to the next round and on to the finals.  What none of us had appreciated was that match racing is great fun.  “You know when you are winning.  You don’t have to sprint from start to finish.  Tactics and Acceleration are KEY.  Just stay ahead of the other guy and you win your heat.  Unless, of course he pushes your stern and spins you out into the eddy just before the final target.”   Even then we wanted to give people a second chance.  The course also contains a Freestyle and Roll zone.  A spectacular performance in this zone can give you a wildcard pass through to the next round.” 

As any slalom paddler will tell you, what really makes a good event is a good course.  When we devised the rules for ExtremeSlalom.com we allowed the course designer to put in ‘alternate Twin-targets’.  You touch one target but not both.  Typically these  Twin-targets would be placed in eddies river-left and river-right, increasing the chances to overtake.   We ended up with an Awesome Mix of Boat-o-cross and Paddles-Up.  Not surprising as we have the organizer of ‘Paddles Up’ on our team.

Racing is for individuals only, with cash prizes awarded for men and women.  However results from sponsored 4-man race teams also count towards the team prize (one result can be discarded, best 3 results to count).  Only officially sponsored race teams may carry their sponsors branding on vehicles, boats and equipment.  ICF regulations do not apply as this is a pro-am series.  Race Results are calculated from each event, factored according to the Grade (Class) of Whitewater to produce continually updated World Rankings.   

We want to hear from Whitewater Festival organisers who want to include our event in their program.  Do you have the contacts to take on a National Franchise to run extreme slalom events, find Sponsors or manage a Race Team?  If you want to get involved in developing ExtremeSlalom.com email:-  raycalverley@extremeslalom.com

Website: http://extremeslalom.com