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Jonny Pearson's report of the 2001 Asahan White Water Festival. A paddling festival in Indonesia with a prize money from another planet: USD 24,500 in total !!!

It started at the train station in Kirasan, International Paddlers from England, New Zealand, France, South Africa and Norway all met on the platform to come out to a welcome that was very different and very cool. We were loaded into our own rickshaw and paraded through the streets for all to see. At our destination we were lead into a smart meeting hall with representatives from all the different sponsors and governing bodies. After many speeches (mostly in Indonesian!) the paddlers were invited to the stage and into the limelight to say what ever they could in front of the anticipating crowd. Dancing girls and lunch were then brought on before being shipped off in a convoy of Land Rovers and other 4×4's, Lead by a Police vehicle with the two's and Blues blaring out! Our Destination, the village of Tangga and the Mighty Asahan River.

This was the start of the second Asahan White Water Festival. An event comprising of 3 parts; A down river race over about 6 k, a Head to head over a stretch of big bouncy class 3-4 and a Freestyle event. Points were awarded to competitors based on their results in each event. The one with the most points at the end of the three events won the top Prize of $8000, yes you did read that right! $ 8000 and these were US dollars. It didn't finish there either, 2nd place received USD 6000, 3rd USD 4000, 4th USD 3000, 5th USD 2000, 6th USD 1000, and 7th USD 500. So as you can imagine on arrival at the river all competitors were keen to get there first runs in.

So straight to the river and the fun and games began. Allan Ellard and I had been training for the past week, so naturally everyone followed our line into the first rapid (which was 5 minutes into the run and the biggest rapid on the section) with varying degrees of success. With a few new lines and a couple of long surfs in holes, they emerged triumphant and set into playing on every wave and in every hole on the way down, trying also to engrave fast lines into their minds. Arriving in the town we were stoked to be greeted with cheers from the crowds.

The town of Tangga was now busy with people, only a week ago, this had been quite a small little village with perhaps 3 or 4 vehicles, it had now been turned into a major event location. Local rescue groups were hard at training, throwing in what looked to be the locals clad in PFD's and helmets, and then bombarding them throwlines! Alongside the international kayak competition there was a rafting event, running along the same lines as our event. This brought many more competitors from Malaysia and around Indonesia, which in turn packed the little village even more. This lead to an awesome atmosphere with us (the Westerners) been treated in almost a star like way. I don't know why, but it was very nice.

Time Trials

The next Day was the Time trial for the head to head, each competitor would go hard down the section that would be used for the head to head, this time would then set them up with who they would be racing. For the first round all the Western paddles were lined up with Malaysian paddlers, apart from myself, Jon Kristien, Chris and Jared. Jarred and Chris had to race each other and I had to race Jon from Norway ... bugger! With no disrespect to the Malaysian paddlers, most of the westerners had a fairly easy first race. Jarred with his Slalom paddling experience beat Chris comfortably, which left me to race Jon who had been quicker than me in the time trials! So 1 minute 40 seconds later, after paddling like a blue arse fly, I just crept over the line in front of Jon, which lined me up to race Mikey Abbott. Bigger, longer and far browner than me, and fresh due to a by through the first round, I didn't fancy my chances! Sure enough he beat me ... but just! Allan raced Andy Phillips, beating him, Jared beat Andi O'Connell and Mark Beat Kia from Norway. This left Mikey Abbott racing Allan Ellard, continuing a long term competition between the two, with Mikey one race win ahead. Jared and Mark, fellow Kiwi's had to put friendship to one side and go at it hard! First up was Allan and Mikey, Warrior against Warrior. At the lead in to the main rapid Allan was in the lead with Mikey no more than a couple of cm behind and closing. Mike coming through in front under the bridge Allan engaged his 2 weeks of practise and took 'line B' leaving them to turn on the power in an all out bid for the line. Heading off into the distance we could just see Allan creep around Mike and make it to the line first! Next up was Mark Eames and Jared. Coming into view Jared had the lead, nailing his line through the main rapid he managed to keep Mark at bay, using his Slalom experience to keep up the speed all the way to the line. This left for a interesting final, Allan, with 2 weeks of training and many years of hardened river knowledge, against Jared, a young lad, lots of stamina, and extensive slalom training. The bets were on and we all waited with bated breath... Round the corner they came, Allan had the lead with Jared pushing hard not more than a boat length behind. Into the main rapid both chose the same line, hitting the large exploding wave at the bottom they emerged to the home straight, with veins visible about to burst the boys gave it everything they had. I'm sure we could almost hear the "$8000, $8000, $8000" chanting in there heads! Down to the finish line and Allan had held Jared off, crossing over the line and stepping into first place.

That evening was spent relaxing in our little wooden shacks with the monsoon rain coming down and one or two beers. A nice steady evening as the rising of the sun would bring the freestyle event and in the back of everybody's minds was the same thought........ "I need to get first place!"

Freestyle

So on to the Freestyle, held on a wave/hole that was not the best in the world but just enough to have a cool event. The Frenchies got set up to judge the event, they had all their essentials, scribes, stopwatches, whistles, Parasol, beer and cigarettes, they were good to go. Three runs, average of the best 2 counted, and the top seven to go into a knock out final. The trick to the freestyle on this occasion was the simple moves and variety. Big moves usually lead to being blown off the wave and a hearty paddle back up the eddy. After many rides and many disappointments, the top three were Mike Abbott, Andy Philps and Mark Eames. Into the final two runs and a close call for third place, which ended up being Mikey. Final rides and the same hard call again, who had won....... with some very quick calculations from the Frenchies, the points added up to Andy taking first place and jumping into first place overall.

Another evening of relaxing for the competitors, a good filling of Rice and fish, some more beer's and a game or two of cards, some mud wrestling in the monsoon rain and a awesome lighting storm set us up nicely for the final event.

The Down River Race

With this event being the most heavily weighted as far as the points go, it meant that the whole competition was still open. A win for almost anyone would do them no end of good in the overall placing, this lead to a tense but exciting atmosphere, which was fuelled further on the way up to the start. We had all being loaded up in the back of a lorry, boats, blades and bodys! The truck got only about 1km outside the town before running out of fuel! To complicate matters more we were on a single track road with a backlog of lorry's and buses behind, which was where we needed to go to get more fuel! Anyway with some make shift plans we all made it to the top.

The down river ahead of us was 3km of constant class 4-5, and then a 3km stretch of class 2-3. Apart from the first rapid the rest of the river was pretty much read and run. For myself, to paddle as fast as you could down an awesome stretch of river, avoiding holes and big waves was rather different, but good fun it's it own way. You spend pretty much 20 minutes locked in your own little mind, picking out lines all the time as every second counts. The start to the race was a fifteen foot slide to the river and you were away. There was much discussion prior to the race as to which line people would be taking on the first and biggest rapid. There was river right, which is where most the water went but took the outside of the bend, or river left which was a shorter run but had less water. I chose the right. We were set off in intervals of 3 minutes and as it was the last event every one was paddling as hard as they could. Arriving at the finish was a huge relief using the last few drops of energy to make it to the side of the river where the guys before you sat, in the warm water, red faced, veins pulsing hard, fingers seized in a paddle grip stance on a nice cold beer! One by one we all arrived at the finish with Allan being the last. We all sat for twenty minutes or so trying to drink our beers and talking about our lines. The Judges withheld all results despite bribes, threats (... and also sexual favours, although this temped them), until that evening.

The afternoon went by nice and steady helped along with beer, a nice change in taste to the previous days of drinking concentrate Red bull in a sub conscious effort to make you believe you had the energy to hydro plane down the river! That evening brought the results of the down river and the results of the competition. We all assembled in the meeting hall. The announcements were in usual Asian style. The organiser of our part of the event had the unfortunate job of telling us the government had taxed the prize money by 15%, news that did not phase us all too much as even with 15% knocked off it was still the highest prize money in the world, plus we had all had a few beers and were in high spirits. The results were read out by the Judges, who had done an awesome job during the whole event. It kicked off with the results of the down river race. In 3rd place was Mark Eames, 2nd Jared Meehan, and in 1st was Mikey Abbott. This meant that a White Water Warrior had won each event! But we all waited to see what the final results were... These were as followed:

1. Mikey Abbott* - USD 8000
2. Jared Meehan - USD 6000
3. Mark Eames - USD 4000
4. Andy Phillips* - USD 3000
5. Allan Ellard* - USD 2000
6. Jonny Pearson* - USD 1000
7. Kia Randen- USD 500

[ * White Water Warrior ]

As the Kiwis had won the first 3 places they treated us to a Haka, which vibrated through the hall and emanated out into the jungle. The British replied with a slap on the back and brought all the beer that night. And so we all descended into a night of celebration. The next day was the last one of the event and the closing ceremony. We all went for a paddle on the lower section of the river through "Honey Moon Canyon" an awesome way to end an awesome event. The river made its way through beautiful jungle and through deep gorges. It had several perfect waves and one nice chunky rapid in there. The evening was the closing ceremony. Local dancers danced for us, and we had a show from a local Indonesian tribe, which involved some awesome drum beating and chanting whilst a different tribe member showed how hard he was, by attempting to stab himself and having a chew on some glass! A truly amazing sight, bringing an air of disbelief and mystery to a wild ceremony.

We were all presented, along with the rest of the competitors from the rafting events, a large piece of card with the amount of our prize printed on it, a small Plaque and an Indonesian scarf, which will be treasured by all of us. We were once again treated to a Haka from the Kiwis then dancing and throwing of people in the swimming pool ended the evening and the event ... well almost!

There was one slight twist to the tail still to come. To cut a very, very long story short, the prize money was offered to us in Indonesian Ruppies, which are pretty much worthless outside of in Indonesia! They then offered split amounts followed by bank transfers! Unbelievable you may think, but not when the Asian factor is involved. After many more stories and suggestions though, they came good, with the added bonus that the Government decided not to tax the prize money! This finally then, did end what was to be the best event I have been to, coupled with an awesome group of paddlers, and with out a doubt the highest prize money in the world ever!

Not enough thanks can go to the Sponsors of the event mainly the Indonesian Government and regency of Asahan for the amazing amount of prize money and the People from the Asahan dam project in the valley to name but a few. This event has really put the rest of the World to shame in both organisation and funding. If Indonesia can run an event like this, then surly the rest of the world could try and come close.

Thanks also must go to my own personal sponsors and the sponsors of the White Water Warriors these being Pyranha, Palm, Rough stuff, 5-10, Mean Scream, HF, Canyon Gear, Playboater, Down Under, and Robson all of which we are very grateful to, for the awesome gear they provide.

So next year, can anyone give me a good reason not to go to the 3rd Asahan White Water Festival? I think not, so see you all there!

Johnny Pearson

Article written by Johnny Person for PLAYAK.COM, November 2001.

All pictures courtesy of the White Water Warriors.

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