Wet and wild at the Charles City Whitewater Challenge

By Kelly Terpstra, kterpstra@charlescitypress.com

Iowa’s first whitewater park isn’t shy about showing people a good time.

Just jump in, hold on tight and enjoy the ride.

Marty Colbert, of Cedar Rapids, made the trip to Charles City for this year’s Whitewater Challenge, as he has every year since the event began seven years ago.

“I have an affinity for a whitewater park and this sort of activity,” he said.

Colbert, along with more than 50 other entrants, dipped and dazzled onlookers in an array of kayak and standup paddle board events that allowed top finishers a chance to snare medals and bragging rights.

“This is a lot of fun. It’s a good time,” said Sam Podzimek, from Cedar Rapids. “Every year it gets better. Every year it’s different.”

Podzimek is a full-time mail carrier when he’s not cruising down the river or showing off his skills in a kayak or paddle board.

He said he likes the Charles City event because, “It’s not a high pressure atmosphere. It’s very low key, very much go at a natural pace.”

There was also an added bonus for whitewater enthusiasts — the Smoke on the Cedar BBQ contest.

“We get spoiled by the smell of food all day. That never hurts,” said Podzimek.

Ginger Williams, Charles City marketing and tourism coordinator, said there were 53 entrants registered for the Whitewater Challenge this summer – up from last year.

“The water’s at a great level and we’ve had a great turnout. I’m very pleased with that,” said Williams. “Everybody seems to be enjoying the day.”

The river has a “play range” of around 600 cubic feet per second all the way up to 13,000 cfs according to Colbert. Competitors out on the river said the cfs on Saturday was around 2,100. Colbert came up in January to test the river when its flow was strong, around that 13,000 cfs range he said.

Colbert had a hand in the development of the whitewater park and can’t think of a better place in the state to sharpen his skill set, all the while celebrating with friends in or around the river.

“I got a chance to guinea pig a lot of these features,” said Colbert. “You’ve got this longitudinal arch of use. It isn’t the same every time. But there’s always something to do here for different skill levels.”

Glenn Harman, who works for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources as an environmental specialist, helped design Charles City’s whitewater park.

“I was real involved in this project from the beginning,” said Harman. “This was the first project that we really sunk our teeth into.”

Harman said he comes up to Charles City about 15-20 times a year. He said he recently finished up some work here in Charles City as part of the Iowa DNR dam and river program.

Harman said his fellow kayakers and canoers that compete every year in Charles City at the Whitewater Challenge are a close group that welcomes newcomers.

“Everyone is really friendly and willing to help each other out,” said Harman. “It is somewhat of a dangerous sport.”

There are currently three whitewater parks in Iowa, at Charles CIty, Elkader and Manchester. Ames, Waterloo and Des Moines are in the process of trying to build parks as well.

Colbert is an advocate for a growing sport that he cares deeply about – not only in the water, but also outside it. He helped picking up trash along the banks of the Cedar River on Friday.

“One of the reasons that we’re really strong proponents of this as an amenity, especially in Iowa, is that anytime you can get people to look at this as a viable resource rather than an open sewer, they treat it better,” said Colbert.

“The city leaders here really should be lauded for their foresight in thinking ‘this could be a good idea,’” he said.