(2017 ☆ ARCHIVED) King of the Alps - Italy

KING OF THE ALPS (Italy) - Nominee for the 2017 Industry Professional of the Year Award

• Website: www.king-alps.com, Facebook: www.facebook.com/kingalps
• Video: www.facebook.com/kingalps/videos/1215259045269953

The King of the Alps is an extreme kayak race held annually on the Passirio River in northern Italy. In 2015, the event became recognised as the European Championships for extreme kayaking. This year, the sixth edition attracted over 150 athletes. These extreme kayak competitors tested their endurance, stamina and whitewater skills in a battle to be named the 2017 European Champion and King / Queen of the Alps.

Unlike other major events on the extreme kayaking international circuit, the King of the Alps event is organised by the non-for-profit kayak and rafting club DRD4 and run entirely by volunteers. All of the profit accumulated from the entry fee and food & drink sale is distributed to cover the prize money and organization costs of advertising, professional timing and safety. Kayak Session Magazine praised the voluntary King Team and DRD4 for the professional organization and “friendly and welcoming atmosphere that couldn’t be beaten!!”.

The King of the Alps event is split into two stages across two different sections of the Passirio river. The first stage of the event, a 6.5 km mass marathon descent on continuous class III whitewater, is the longest extreme kayak race in Europe. The mass start is split into three categories, the first being men, followed by a combined group of Juniors and Women and a final group of Open Canoes. This year’s edition saw an increase in competition entries, most noticeably in the Open Canoe.

For the top twenty male paddlers, the race continues to the final stage. Higher up the Passirio, the finalists go head-to-head down a short and technically difficult section of class V rapids. For the crowd, there is plenty of room to watch the spectacular display of high level extreme paddling on the river bank.

A new addition to this year's event featured a team race, made up of two paddlers per nation, on the class V section. Of the fourteen teams that competed, it was the French duo who won the first ‘Knights of the King’ title.

This is a 2017 archived nominee. Voting has closed.