LITTLE FALLS
WILDWATER RACE
Sponsored by Eastern Mountain Sports
& Maximum Whitewater Performance
Presented by Little Falls Wildwater Club
Format: 1 Day Sprint and Classic races. Mather Gorge and Little Falls, MD
This event is part of the 2005 Mid Atlantic Downriver Series
Schedule: Saturday 4/16: Informal Practice runs. (contact Geoff Calhoun)
Sunday 4/17: 9:00 am registration – Great Falls Park, VA
9:30 am – Competitors Meeting
10 am – Sprint Races in Mather Gorge
12 noon – Classic Race down Little Falls 1 pm Awards – Lock 6 parking lot
Class Order: Plastic, Slalom, Wavehopper, Wildwater
C-1, K-1W, C-2, K-1 (by National Ranking)
Plastic and slalom boats welcome. Awards to the top 3 finishers in each class. Top finisher prizes courtesy Eastern Mountain Sports! Certain classes may be combined. T-shirts and bib numbers will be given out at Registration. Bibs to be returned at the end of the race. Water levels are unpredictable on the Potomac River, but April levels are usually between 4 and 7 feet, which makes for very big class 4 whitewater. Little falls is an extremely long, powerful, and intimidating rapid at these levels and competitors should be familiar and comfortable with the run at these levels. The classic race course will start in the area of the rubble dam, most likely at the top of the Feeder Canal, and finish at Chain Bridge. Top times range depending on water level, but will be under 10 minutes. In case of high water and popular opinion to move the course – the race may be moved to Mather Gorge or the Carderock area. Here’s the link to the Little Falls Gauge and the Potomac River level forecast.
The sprint race is the same course as the one at Potomac Whitewater Fest. Start is at Fisherman’s Eddy below Great Falls. Finish at the downstream end of Rocky Island. This is about a 2 minute race course. Whitewater is class 3 at lower levels. Pushy class 4 at higher levels. In case of high water, course may be shifted slightly downstream from Fisherman’s Eddy.
Registration at Great Falls Park, Virginia on race day only. Race fee $5. With T-shirt $10
Contact information: Geoff Calhoun GCalhoun9@hotmail.com 301 320 3846
Bob Bofinger CanoaBob58@aol.com 301 865 8183
**All participants must wear a coast guard approved lifejacket, and a helmet. **
Airbags are strongly recommended, particularly for wildwater boats. The race organizers will provide coaching, recommend race lines and strategies if necessary and will provide a safety boater at Little Falls rapid, and the rubble dam if possible.
This race is part of Mid Atlantic Downriver Series. Finishers
will be factored into MADS Championship, and at the end of the year will have
their National Ranking calculated by
USA Wildwater based on their times, as compared to other racers. These
rankings are used to seed racers in Wildwater Events the following year.
