After having to cancel a race last year, Hay River was going to kick off this year’s jet boat world championship races – but water levels are still too low.
The world championship is occurring elsewhere, instead, as the NWT continues experiencing a multi-year drought driving extremely low water levels across much of the territory.
The same situation played out last year, when low water intervened to halt plans for a separate race.
Tanner Froehlich, a jet boat racer born and raised in Hay River, said 700 racers, spectators and team members were projected to attend this year – but the world championship committee was “a little uncomfortable about whether the race would even be able to proceed.”
“All the people that were competing from outside of the country needed to have reassurance that the river was going to have water,” Froehlich said.
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While the races won’t be in Hay River this year, world championship events will still proceed in host venues Grande Prairie, Peace River and Taylor, BC.
Teams from New Zealand, Mexico, the US and across Canada are expected to participate when the races kick off on June 20 in Peace River and end on June 29 in Taylor.
Froehlich will participate with his team, Reverse Elevation. The team has roots in Hay River and previously won the world championship in its class in 2019.
This year, they are competing in a higher class against 18 other teams.
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Visit the world championships’ website for more information.
From 1986: Watch TSN coverage of 80s jet boat racing in Hay River
Hay River used to hold river races frequently. In recent years, the sport has “dried up” in the town,” Froehlich said.
“The committees were the ones doing it all the time and, as they moved on with their lives, they didn’t have anybody to backfill them to run events up there,” he said, “and this is where we’re at.”
Organizers hope to hold a race in Hay River next year, though that event is expected to be much smaller than a world championship race would have been.
