A gnarly competition in K-Country will have competitors hanging ten and riding waves.
The Mountain Wave Classic is returning to Kananaskis this August for its 15th year.
According to David Rousseau, who is on the board for the Mountain Wave Classic, surfers will be surfing on a river on the Eastern Slopes of the Rockies.
"It's a river surf competition that is organized by the Alberta River Surfing Association and the community, the river surfing community in Alberta," Rousseau explains. "Typically, you can expect about 30 to 40 athletes that are going to compete in both categories, men and women."
The Alberta River Surfing Association started in the early 2000s to promote river surfing in a safe and fun manner, and a few years later, the Mountain Wave Classic began.
"And it's a way to bring the community together. It's a way to talk about the achievements of the associations and what we've done to support the sport and to grow the community."
As part of this surfing competition, they have built a semi-natural wave that allows for a wave to be there at all times.
"So, it's a standing wave and the competition is surfers that are riding this wave," Rousseau says.
The surfers are judged on five categories, which are the entry into the wave, the flow, the style, the different tricks they do, and the use of the whole wave.
"They get two points per with a total note on ten and then whoever scores more wins."
The competition takes place on August 23 and 24, with the competition kicking off at noon on Saturday, August 23, on the Kananaskis River at Canoe Meadows, which is about 45 minutes outside of Calgary.
"We have to adjust the competition based on the water that we get from TransAlta, because they manage the dam that is upstream, and sometimes we have water and sometimes we don't have water, but we are guaranteed flow time on those times for these days. So, yeah, from 12 to 4 on the Saturday and 12 to 4 on the Sunday."
The top three women and the top three men from the competition will all receive prizes.
The event is free to attend and watch from the bank of the river, and there will be a DJ on site playing tunes.
There is still time to enter to compete in the Mountain Wave Classic.
For those wanting to get into river surfing, the Alberta River Surfing Association and the Bow Valley SUP & Surf have lessons that people can attend.
For future competitions, they are building a wave structure that will be able to create highly adjustable waves.
To learn more and to register for the competition, click here.