Nick Harding | @nickhdg | Sportscene - Taking a break from editing her new women's whitewater film, Canada's Katrina van Wijk has a whistle-stop heart-to-heart with Sportscene about her career, the 2012 Whitewater Grand Prix and her project TiTS Deep that is gaining incredible momentum on Facebook.

Career highlights:

• 3 x Canadian Junior Champion (2006, 07, 08)
• 2 x Canadian Senior Champion (2008, 09)
• Only girl to compete in the Little White Salmon Race, USA (2012)
• 2nd Green Race, USA (2012)
• 3rd Whitewater Grand Prix, Chile (2012)

Katrina, often described as one of the most flamboyant characters in women's competition, is also recognised in the canoe world as of the most gifted and fearless pioneers in paddle-extreme. Broken nose, bloody face in Argentina; walks in the park compared to her worst injury in 2010 on the Green Race where a crash on Gorilla left her with a serious concussion and 28 stitches on her eye! When starting out she was spurred on by one of her kayaking heroes Tanya Faux; she had to regularly endure her 'special run', a more-than-hardcore workout!

Katrina, of Dutch and German roots, comes from a family dedicated to the outdoors; her parents are raft and kayak instructors who own OWL Rafting on the Ottawa River and the Madwaska Kanu Centre, her mother Claudia was a 10-time National Slalom Champion who now commentates for Canadian TV, her father Dirk was Chief of Course Preparations for Nordic and Cross Country skiing at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Before her kayaking days, Katrina would spend the winter months training for cross-country skiing.

2010 saw Katrina distancing herself from competitive racing, taking time out to re-evaluate her ambitions, she spent a year teaching at her parents' whitewater school. Practising, training hard everyday, her ability increased triple-fold.

Chile 2012

One out of seven über-talented selected girls for the Whitewater Grand Prix last year, Katrina narrowly missed out to Nouria Newman (FRA) and Martina Wegman (NED) finishing 3rd overall. Even though we know how competitive she is, she was more than satisfied with this result, yet did also cheekily admit that winning first in the 'Boatercross' was “nice to have a little taste of gold!”

“I was part of one of the coolest whitewater competitions right now, it was a huge honour. I was really excited to compete with the girls and be in Chile with the level that kayaking has been brought to now.”

The pleasure in competing with so few girls who share the same passion is that all of them have become a close-knit group of friends off-the-circuit, importantly about safety in such extreme water, they 'have each other's backs' on the river. 

I asked her to put each stage in her own words:

1. Whitewater Enduro – longer than the standard race at 5-6 minutes, high volume of water, tall drops the largest being 30ft
2. Timetrial Race – short sprint bursts, technical, the river dynamic changes, lower volume, more rock manoeuvres, around 2 minutes
3. Sprint – similar to second stage, less technical, more drops, a 15ft drop into a 100ft slide; the first we got to experience, then a 20ft drop and a few ledges
4. Boatercross – comparable to snowboard cross with 5-6 competitors at a time, then heats,  flooded, record high-levels, similar to her Ottawa River
5. Whitewater Enduro – mass start endurance, ranking comes into play now, 35 minutes of gut-gruelling paddling

Katrina has her goals set high for a win at this year's competition. Training is right around the corner, she hopes to leave her frozen Ottawa at the end of February heading West to the Columbia River gorge to get into better shape by paddling her best-loved and physically-demanding river, Little White Salmon, daily. She is aiming for higher and higher drops; “falling off a 70ft drop is the coolest feeling in the world,” she smiles.

Difficult comparing a limited-sized female field to the men's pack, Katrina would love to rally some more girls to go the races to further expand women's extreme kayaking, as well as so she has some more competition!

TiTS Deep

TiTS Deep ties in naturally with Katrina's intention to expand the women's field. The Facebook page aims to build more confidence in female paddlers' own ability, convincing them to move away from the stereotypical, timid image of what a woman should and shouldn't do, pushing them to test themselves to new levels.

TiTS Deep was originally set up to celebrate females achievements in kayaking. This quickly diverged into other extreme sports; Katrina posted photos of her friends who were experts in their own snowboarding, longboarding, skateboarding, skiing ventures. 

Her brainchild was also to allow the public to check out these adventure pursuits and be inspired to take them up.  She was humbled to have inspired a few women on her return from Patagonia: “It was incredible to get a fan message, it makes you feel really special that you have affected someone.”

So where did the catchy, amusing and memorable name TiTS Deep come from? Well, Katrina spent a winter paddling with and learning from her friends the 'Balls Deep Crew' on the Hood River, Oregon. After getting swallowed by the ‘Notch’ just above Gorilla Rapid on the Green River Narrows, she blurted out, “that was TiTS Deep.” The name then stuck. They made comical stickers, people liked them and they then evolved into today's Facebook page.

However, this name also gained some controversy from feminists and bloggers alike, despite praising female accomplishments in extreme sport, it was seen as chauvinistic and sexist.

I understand where they are coming from, I know I'm walking a fine line but I want to stay true to what we are doing and not promote women in a sexist way, but also we are women and we are beautiful and we've got tits!

Like Sportscene, TiTS Deep occasionally posts tasteful, semi-nude images of athletes. Katrina finds it amusing that some have asked; “are those men or women?” because the girls are so strong and muscular from behind!

As for the future, Katrina is working solidly to take the brand to new realms, longer expedition online films particular about her trip to Patagonia, a permanent website and, who knows, perhaps a printed version. She has a level-head too, applying for art school to further study graphic design and film-making.

Remembering that the TiTS Deep female paddlers are tackling some of the most extreme whitewater in the world; the name dually appreciates the level of danger and bravery involved, what Katrina has created is pure brilliance.

Third generation female paddler in the Kerckhoff-van Wijk family, Katrina is ever taking women's action sport to new heights, more often than not to the 70ft level! Eagerly-awaiting this year's Whitewater Grand Prix.

Website Katrina van Wijk: http://katrinavanwijk.ca

Facebook Page TiTS DEEP: www.facebook.com/TitsDeep

Latest video TiTS DEEP: https://vimeo.com/59326731

Photo credit (Katrina racing in Chile): Erik Boomer - www.facebook.com/erik.boomer