BY ADAM ATKINSON

North Country This Week

CANTON – Plans are underway for the 58th Canton Canoe Weekend on May 4 and 5 at Taylor Park and online race registration is now open.

“The weekend hosts one of the oldest canoe races in the country,” said Kathy Duffany, one of the organizers, during a presentation at a recent town board meeting. “And we do get paddlers from all over the Northeast, Canada, Michigan.”

“It's the C1 Pro World Championships and we probably get from 50 to 60 guys on the starting line,” said organizer Gene Newman. “It’s pretty exciting. We probably get 100 people in town for the weekend. Most of them do at least two races, so we probably get in the neighborhood of about 250 entrants.”

The World Championship Pro Race, featuring a purse of over $7,000, said the event website at www.cantoncanoeweekend.org.

“It's a good advertisement for Canton,” Newman said.

The event was started in 1962 to honor John Henry Rushton and his boatworks,which were founded in 1875 on the banks of the Grasse River.

Plans this year call for a paddling film festival, a try-the-boat with recreation kayaks and other boats, more barbecue, and of course, races in pro, amateur, recreation, relay, college and high school divisions over distances from 3-14 miles. Race categories include canoe, kayak and stand up paddleboard (SUP) races, a relay race, and antique and voyager canoe races, said the event website.

“Its certainly promoting the professional side of paddling and canoeing but also the recreation side and the love of being on the water,” Duffany said.

For more information, or to register for an event, visit www.cantoncanoeweekend.org.