Surf Cambridge wants people to catch the wave

Grand River Run could become an annual affair

A new paddling group will be putting a whole new face on the City of Cambridge’s Back to the River initiative on Sunday.

Surf Cambridge is running its first event on the Grand River, just south of Mill Race Park. The group, made up of whitewater canoeists and kayakers from across southwestern Ontario, is staging Surf Cambridge’s Grand River Run.

Surf Cambridge is partnering with The Complete Paddler and Whitewater Ontario for this event, which will feature a slalom course, a roll clinic and a “boatercross” challenge.

Andrea Hoba, Surf Cambridge’s spokesperson, said the group of about a dozen enthusiasts first got together last winter and decided to put on the event to promote whitewater sports and to show off the potential of the Grand River in Cambridge.

Hoba is a part-time teacher who got into whitewater paddling about three years ago. She believes that, with a little work, Cambridge could be a hub for whitewater events in this part of the province.

“About two weeks of the year the water is high enough that there are some really nice waves here, and it pulls people from across southwestern Ontario to this location,” Hoba explained.

“There is very little whitewater in southwestern Ontario. There is this location, where you get approximately two weeks of the year that you get the right size waves. There is the Elora Gorge, which is very, very low for most of the year, and there is Benmiller on the Maitland (near Goderich), which you get for two weeks of the year.”

The members of Surf Cambridge are convinced that with some modifications, about 30 metres south of the Park Hill Road Bridge, the river could become a major whitewater attraction.

“If we were to put in a surf wave here, it would attract people from all over southwestern Ontario, including Toronto,” she said.

Hoba, who lives in Clinton, near Goderich, said the spot could be an aquatic playground that would appeal to a wide audience. Surf-wave ramps could be raised when the “park” is in use and lowered when the facility is closed.

“It would bring more people down to the river. It’s free entertainment for the public, free for the boaters, and if you build they will come,” she said.

While finding support for the installation of a surf-wave ramp apparatus in the river is a longrange goal for Surf Cambridge, its immediate attention is focused on Sunday’s first Grand River Run.

The event runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The roll classes at River Bluffs Park will start at 9 a.m. and run again at 10 and 11 a.m. In the afternoon, the classes will run at 2 and 3 p.m. Each class runs about 50 minutes and involves two instructors working with four students. The cost of the class is $50, plus $5 for those who aren’t members of Whitewater Ontario.

The “boatercross,” the whitewater kayak and canoe equivalent of a motocross event, is at noon.

“It’s like a motocross with boats,” Hoba said.

“It’s a race and a lot of fun, where you start here and end down there about 500 metres. It’s basically a free-for-all.”

Participating in the race costs $10, but it’s free if you sign up for one of the other two events.

The third event is the slalom, which challenges participants to navigate their way through the course in the fastest time. The slalom event costs $20, plus $5 for those who aren’t members of Whitewater Ontario.

Proceeds from the event will go to the eventual purchase of a surf-wave ramp.