WESTFIELD — Organizers gearing up for the 70th annual Westfield River Wildwater Race are launching a fundraising campaign to cover the more than $30,000 in cash they need to put on the event.
Race chairman Harry Rock said that while participant fees cover about half the cost of the race, cash donations and in-kind services are needed to continue the nation’s longest canoe race.
He is confident that the race on April 19 will persevere.
“Last year we discovered that the fees charged to the participants were not enough to run the races,” he said. “We almost had to cancel the race if it wasn’t for the generosity of some supporters and businesses who stepped up at the last minute.”
“We’re getting off to an early start this year and we’re hoping our fans will step up again,” he said.
Rock said organizers are creating a guide for donations. Any amount given up to $100 falls under the “Starting Line” tier, while a “Rapid” designation covers any donation between $100 and $249, followed by a “Kayak” for donations between $250 and $499.
The guide continues with the $500-$999 “Canoe” tier, with “Paddlers” between $1,000 and $2,499, where Rock himself has contributed. “White Water” donors contribute between $2,500 and $4,999 and “Finish Line” donors are in the $5,000 or more category. Until now, JL Raymaakers & Sons Inc. and Roar Inc. have once again taken the lead in contributing as early contributors to Finish Line.
Last year, John Raymaaker, a longtime rower in the races, stepped up when he heard about the possible cancellation and paid $4,000 in cash, then challenged his business associates to get on board. they did
Champion racer Travis Wheeler started a GoFundMe page that raised more than $4,000. Indian Motorcycle of Springfield joined, as did Pioneer Valley Waste, the Westfield River Wild and Scenic Committee, Westfield Bank and others. As a result of the donation, the 69th running of the Westfield River Wildwater Race was launched on time.
Rock, along with race director Kathryn Koegan, adopted new operating procedures to better suit the needs of runners. A tiered registration system will offer early registrants a discounted rate, with prices increasing as race time approaches. Start times will also depend on check-in times. Those who sign up early will get the first releases.
John Raymaaker led the Westfield River Wildwater Race Classic Race event in April wearing a special jersey for the occasion. (Dave Canton / The Republican)Dave Canton
Rock meets with officials in each of the communities the race passes through, smoothing over relations.
“We’ve had meetings with the Russell and Huntington boards of selectmen, big meetings with the boards, and we’re making progress,” Rock said. “The Westfield River dominates this area. We want to know how the Westfield River Wildwater Race can increase community involvement with the race and make it better for the people who live along the race and the towns we’re in.
The race is believed to have started as a bet in the early 1950s at the bar at the Whippernon Country Club, formerly on Route 20 in Russell. The first race in 1953 saw nine canoes enter the West Branch of the river at the Wildcat Springs Restaurant in Chester and race 10 miles to Whippernon. Seven canoes finished and the prize was two cases of beer.
In 1965, the course was changed to its current course, with the rookie race starting at the Huntington Department of Public Works yards on Route 112 and running eight miles to the Woronoco Paper Mills. The expert run stars at the base of Knightville Dam and extends five miles to the Route 20 Rest Area in Huntington, near the Huntington Health Center.
Since that first bar bet, the Westfield River Wildwater Race has seen a lot of history and a lot of evolution as tastes and technology changed the way people interact with the river. Jeff DeFeo first ran the race as a lark in 1974, the year he graduated from high school.
“I was lucky they didn’t kill us because we knew practically nothing,” he said Saturday. “We weren’t dressed well and it was very cold. We ended up swimming the first four or five times we were in the race, until we realized it.”
DeFeo has participated in the race every year since then and became the race’s co-chairman in 1983. With fellow rower Jurgen Igel, he ran the race for 30 years. But even then, entry fees did not cover all costs.
“We did tag sales and golf tournaments and a couple of off-season dances just to keep the funding going,” he said.
The race later attracted several corporate sponsors, and their donation took the pressure off, something DeFeo said needs to happen again.
“We did all our own time, all our own logging. Now they’re paying for things we never had to do. They’re paying a lot more for the police,” he said.
Julie Marcoulier has seen a lot of racing history first hand and made some of it. After 30 consecutive races, she is the longest-serving female rower.
“In 1994, John DeFeo, Jeff’s brother, took me on as a paddler and taught me and my husband how to read the river and use different strokes,” she said. “We ran the rookie race that year.”
Marcoulier was instrumental in getting more women into racing as teams.
“I was coaching girls cross country at Gateway High School from 2000 to 2013 and I took four or five of my runners down the river to try to get them interested,” she said.
Now, his favorite partner on the river is his daughter, Jesse Marcoulier-Gladu.
“For the past eight or 10 years, my daughter and I have been competing in the expert competition,” Marcoulier said. “I started with Kathy Enger as a partner and we ran a women’s team. Then my daughter came along and we’ve been racing together for at least 10 years.”