BY ADAM ATKINSON
North Country This Week

CANTON – Plans are underway for the 58th Canton Canoe Weekend on Saturday and Sunday, May 4 and 5 at Taylor Park and online race registration is now open.

“The weekend hosts one of the oldest canoe races in the country,” said Kathy Duffany, one of the organizers, during a presentation at a recent town board meeting. “And we do get paddlers from all over the Northeast, Canada, Michigan.”

“It’s the C1 Pro World Championships and we probably get from 50 to 60 guys on the starting line,” said organizer Gene Newman. “It’s pretty exciting. We probably get 100 people in town for the weekend. Most of them do at least two races, so we probably get in the neighborhood of about 250 entrants.”

The World Championship Pro Race features a purse of more than $7,000, said the event website at www.cantoncanoeweekend.org.

The event will take place in Canton on the Grasse and Little Rivers, with race headquarters at Taylor Park on Miner Street Road.

“It’s a good advertisement for Canton,” Newman said.

The event was started in 1962 to honor John Henry Rushton and his boatworks, which were founded in 1875 on the banks of the Grasse River.

Plans this year call for a paddling film festival on April 25 before Canoe Weekend (see sidebar), a try-the-boat with recreation kayaks and other boats, more barbecue, and of course, races in pro, amateur, recreation, relay, college and high school divisions over distances from 3-14 miles. Race categories include canoe, kayak and stand up paddleboard (SUP) races, a relay race, and antique and voyager canoe races, said the event website.

“Its certainly promoting the professional side of paddling and canoeing but also the recreation side and the love of being on the water,” Duffany said.

For more information, or to register for an event, visit www.cantoncanoeweekend.org.

The schedule of events Saturday includes:

• 9 a.m. Modern Rushton Races, recreational races 1, 3, 5 or 8 miles in length.

• 11 a.m. DJ Double Dutch provides music throughout the day.

• 12:30 p.m. St. Lawrence Health System C-1 International Pro World Championship, world professional paddlers race a 14-mile course. Amateur paddlers leave the starting line immediately after on a 12-mile stretch.

• 2 p.m. Canton FFA barbecue begins at Taylor Park.

• 3:30 p.m. Rushton High School and College Challenge Relay, trophies and bragging rights.

• 4-5 p.m. Try-a-boat, including tandem and solo canoes, racing canoes and kayaks, sea kayaks, children’s kayaks and stand-up paddleboards. Paddles and life jackets provided. Seasoned paddlers on hand to assist.

The weekend concludes on Sunday, May 5 with pro and amateur tandem races at 10 a.m.

To see a promotional video for the 58th Canton Canoe Weekend visit https://bit.ly/2UMXrWo.

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