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Salida Colorado and the Open Canoe Salom Nationals

The 2011 ACA Open Canoe Slalom Nationals & North American Championships that were to be held on July 6-8, 2011 at the Clear Creek Whitewater Park in Golden, CO, were canceled due to the anticipation of very high water at the race site on the schedule race weekend! The 2011 ACA Open Canoe Slalom Nationals and North American Championships were moved to Salida, CO, about 165 miles southwest of Denver. The dates remained the same, July 8-10, 2011 with practice prior to the event.
The Salida site is approximately 2.5 hours from Denver and features two large play waves and large shoreline eddies. A walking path goes along the length of the course. The Salida site annually hosts the Fibark slalom and downriver race. This year the event includes USA Wildwater Nationals and USACK Slalom Age Group Nationals. Kent Ford, the course designer, set a good open boat course at the high water levels. The course snaked down the side of the river, avoiding the center of the 2 large play structures using the numerous eddies along the sides of the river that are available at all water levels. The downriver was conducted on Friday morning on an appropriate section of the river dependent on water levels. This is a high water year in Colorado, so all were advised to come prepared for cold water from snow melt and high volumes. Salida also hosted an annual Beer Festival on the same weekend as the race.

See the event web site at: http://OCS.Whitewater-Slalom.us/oc-2011n.htm

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