This past weekend was a huge success. The first ever Reverse Freestyle and BoaterX competition was held at the Reversing Falls in Saint John New Brunswick.

20 Competitors from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Maine and Ontario gathered to take on the Reversing Falls. The levels were not ideal however the sun was shining and spirits were high.

(Paddlers waiting in the eddy)

Day one started out with the freestyle competition. Due to the fact that we were on a short time schedule the freestyle competition followed an expression session format. I have never seen more aerial tricks performed in such a short period of time huge aerial blunts, back stabs, pan-ams, donkey flips and massive entry loops were all on the itinerary. Everyone had such a great time on day one we decided to let everyone come back for day two to try again.

(Patrick Camblin on the wave)

(Chris Hull mid Back Stab)

The BoaterX prelims went smooth with smooth with long time wild water paddler Rob Lang leading the field after day one.

(BoaterX Prelims)

Many spectators turned out for day one including a local photography group. All the photographers seemed to really enjoy the event and even more of the group showed up for day two.

That night we all made our out for the boater party at O’Leary’s Pub. The two swimmers of the day swallowed their pride and in good fashion had drinks from the old dingy paddling booty. Everyone had a great time and most didn’t make it home till the wee hours of the morning.

(Me Feeling Good at O’Leary’s Pub)

(The Legend Harold Cox, Patrick Camblin and the Red Bull Crew)

Day two started later in the day to allow for those boaters to free themselves of their hang-over. Spirits were high and no one held back the freestyle competition was even more exciting than day one.

Every time Patrick Camblin hit the wave he had the spectator’s undivided attention. With stunning precision he moved himself around the wave throwing massive aerial moves including the biggest clean Pan-AM I have ever witnessed. Nate StSaviour of Maine gave Patrick a run for the money. Nate was paddling with pure heart throwing anything he could muster up on the wave. Other notable mentions were Chris Hull of Maine and Mark Richard from Nova Scotia all of them earned lots of Air miles.

The BoaterX semi-finals and finals were exciting with Chris Hull and Nate StSaviour giving Rob Lang tough competition. Chris and Nate were in short play boats and Rob in a long wild water boat.

The Results are as follows:

Freestyle

First Place
Patrick Camblin (Ontario)

Second Place
Nate StSaviour (Maine)

Third Place
Mark Richard (Nova Scotia)

BoaterX

First Place
Rob Lang (New Brunswick)

Second Place
Nate StSaviour (Maine)

Third Place
Chris Hull (Maine)

Biggest Aerial Move
Patrick Camblin (Ontario)

Biggest Trashing
Ian Campbell (New Brunswick)

Thank you to everyone that participated in this event and helped out by volunteering their time and a special thank you goes out to Katie Arbukle and Jenn Taylor of Red Bull who helped make this event successful. Also thanks to Patrick Camblin who made his way to New Brunswick right after returning from the Lyon River Festival in France.

Fun was had by all and hopefully we will see you all again next year. In the days to come there will be a photo gallery added to the REVERSE website to showcase all the excellent photos that were taken over the weekend. Also coming soon a video clip of the weekend’s event.