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Asahan 2000 - Indonesia Whitewater Festival

Exclusive PLAYAK.COM article by Suma Terra Holidays about the Indonesia Whitewater Festival (part of the ICF South East Asia whitewater circuit 2000)

Medan, November 27 2000 - The ferry boat across the Malacca straight back to Penang (Malaysia) departed yesterday with on board most of the competitors, besides a few French guys and a Russian waiting here in Medan for other connections. The Indonesian Whitewater Festival is now history. 

Everyone met on the 18th at midnight and arrived at the location on the 19th in the evening. Besides a few last minute arrivals all the other competitors had spent 3 days on the road from Northern Thailand to reach Asahan in the interior of the island of Sumatra.

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A few hours to realize where one is (...) before a well deserved sleep. The morning wake-up call was given by the sound of screaming Gibbons. Here we were, deep into Sumatra's remote jungles. What a time it was... We had 41 competitors from 12 countries coming here for the first ever Indonesian Whitewater Festival.  The November monsoon now hitting Southern Thailand, Malaysia and Sumatra is leaving behind hundreds stranded and also gave us our share of hard time down there at the valley. On the 22nd and 23rd, tents collapsed, mud became part of everyone's life and keeping things dry was something of an ordeal, plus the few landslides on the way. By the time of the Downriver "Extreme" Race (22nd afternoon) the river turned from crystal-clear to brownish only for the upper to become a nonstop 12 minutes grade 5 constant pound with only 2 eddies for a short breath. Let's take things now from the beginning. The 20th was scouting day and time to get accustomed to the river. 3 kayaks got smashed upriver and the rescue boys were busy searching for swimmers and equipment. For who was not aware Asahan is not an easy river.

On the 21st at 9 AM it was time-taking for the seeding of the head-to-head competition. Corey Nielsen (USA) took the pole with 1m.01sec, followed by Alex Nicks (England) and Eric Martinez (France) at 1.02. At 10 AM, the minister of Tourism, Art and Culture (Mr. I Gede Ardika) and former Minister of Sports (Mr. Sinanbela) officially hit the gong and declare the Asahan 2000 Festival open. Shortly after it was followed by a freestyle demo given by Alex Nicks, Brad Ludden and Tao Berman in front of the official tribune in big grade 4 water. The crowd was coming in big numbers, with these aces of whitewater receiving cheering applause from the spectators and Government officials. At this point we believe that more than 2.500 people occupied the banks of the river.

After scouting on 20th. November - Asahan valley

The Minister of Tourism declares Asahan 2000 opened.

The Head-to-Head

The modern young gods of whitewater took control over the ancestral beliefs of the local community for the 3 days of this unique Festival. The party could now begin at the sound of loud rock n' roll classic tunes giving the rhythm. The head-to-head race saw several majors upsets (Aymeri Semeria of France downs Alex Nicks in the first round) and ended with Mike Abbott (New-Zealand) as the winner, Markus Leppanen (Finland) at Nr2 while Corey Nielsen (USA) ends third. By the time the race was over it was late in the afternoon. Easily observable from the Paritean bridge, the 500m stretch (grade 4-4+) of the head-to-head race drove the local crowd in delirium, at the fast pace of competitors battling each other to cross first the line. On the 22nd the rodeo was scheduled at 10 AM. The spot had just been decided and after a couple minutes of agitation (and a rather light breakfast some might say...) everything returned to normal. After the first round of elimination we had seven participants left with Tao Berman and Brad Ludden as the early victims of choice. Again the contest ended up with many surprises.

Jay Kincaid (USA) was the winner, Matthieu Bresson (France) stood 2nd and Tyler Curtis (USA) finished 3rd. The rain continued to pour down heavily at this point as the Downriver "Extreme" Race was programmed at 3 PM. The Asahan became a wild river raging down furiously. Wisely many decided not to take part of the Downriver Race and from all the 41 paddlers inscribed, only 19 made it to the finish line. A number of guys were than seen at the Cafes sipping down on warm tea. Confirmed paddlers (no names haha...) had the unusual experience of having to swim! The 6 km of race (1/2 of grade 5) were swallowed in just about 20 minutes, wow.... Tao Berman (USA) came in first, followed by Mike Abbott (New-Zealand) and Brad Ludden (USA). On the 23rd some decided to run the complete Asahan. A thrilling experience: the middle section is in narrow canyons with vertical walls of hundred meters, combining steep drops and thundering grade 5-6 rapids. Nightmare (5.8) and French Cancan (5+) were carefully avoided. Exhausted by the effort but delighted by the natural settings, all the paddlers returned to the base camp with one word on their lips: Asahan is a real beauty!

A couple more days to enjoy a bit of luxury were given in lake Toba and Medan, thanks to the good anticipation of the local government, that has offered 2 extra nights for free in comfortable hotels. What a feeling of a nice warm bath, getting clothes washed and relax a bit in the morning. We were slowly making our way back to Medan for the closing ceremony given by the Governor of North Sumatra.

Opening ceremony with speech of
Mr. I Gede Ardika, Minister of Tourism

Corey Nielsen (USA) chasing time for the seeding

Mike Abbott the Conquistador in Asahan, gets USD 800

Hundreds of people were still out there in the rain to watch until the final minutes of the race. I had people coming to hug me and to thank for the wonderful time we gave them. This is what made Asahan the real success besides many short comings in logistics and organization. We apologize to all for any inconvenience related to this matter. The support of the local people definitely was great. HORAS!!!

To everybody who made this event possible, to the local Government, to the wonderful crowd of spectators, to the FAJI boys and all the staff, to the main sponsor (Telkomsel) and to the people of Indonesia:

Thanks and see you next year!

Rodeo

Ranking Paddler Country Points
1 Jay Kincaid USA 179.4
2 Matthieu Bresson France 147.2
3 Tyler Curtis Canada 127.8
4 Taylor Robertson USA 104.0
5 Mark Eames New-Zealand 92.8
6 Alex Nicks England 81.9
7 David Arnaud France 78.6

Downriver

Ranking Paddler Country Time
1 Tao Berman USA 20:56
2 Mike Abbott New-Zealand 21:09
3 Brad Ludden USA 21:22
4 Alex Nicks England 21:28
5 Corey Nielsen USA 21:36
6 Taylor Robertson USA 21:51
7 Sam Drevo USA 21:54
8 Tyler Curtis Canada 22:15
9 Mark Eames New-Zealand 22:19
10 Christian Processe France 22:24

Head to head

Ranking Paddler Country Seeding Time
1 Mike Abbot New Zealand 3 1.03
2 Markus Leppanen Finland 5 1.05
3 Corey Nielsen USA 1 1.01
4 Julien Turin France 3 1.03
5 Remi Clermont France 5 1.05
6 Aymeri Semeria France 6 1.06
7 Jay Kincaid USA 3 1.03
8 Benjamin Hjort Norway 4 1.04
9 Sam Drevo USA 4 1.04
10 David Arnaud France 5 1.05
10 Brad Ludden USA 5 1.05
10 Tyler Curtis Canada 5 1.05

The participants

  • USA: Corey Nielsen, Brad Ludden, Jay Kincaid, Tao Berman, Taylor Robertson, Sam Drevo, Eric Leith, Corby Leith, Astrid Ensign, Annie Chamberlain.
  • France: [mail address protected from spambots with javascript] , Gaetan Sene, Remi Clermont, Christian Processe, Eric Chaplin, Aymeri Semeria, Matthieu Bresson, Davy Mat He, Julien Turin, Damien Sene, Eric Martinez.
  • Australia: Micheal O'Shear, Glenn Singleton.
  • New-Zealand: Mike Abbott, Mark Eames.
  • England: Alex Nicks.
  • Canada: [mail address protected from spambots with javascript] , Tyler Curtis, Ruth Gordon, Lisa Beckstadt.
  • Norway: Benjamin Hjort.
  • Finland: Markus Leppanen.
  • Russia: Alex Davidov.
  • Denmark: Mikkel Ketil.
  • Poland: Bartosz Sawiki.
  • Indonesia: Juwono, Agustinus Lamba, Jack Jacobs, Adi Ningrat, Suheri.

Article by Jader Rostello, for PLAYAK.COM, November 28 2000.

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