Over 280 people took on the Westfield River Wildwater Races in western Massachusetts over the weekend. Hundreds more were cheering them on as they paddled canoes and kayaks or tried to keep their balance on stand-up paddle boards, known as “SUPs.”
Organizers tell WAMC that, no matter how they took on the waters, all took part in a long-flowing tradition on a river that’s only been getting cleaner and healthier over the years.
The water was cold, the rain held off and temperatures were mild Saturday: perfect conditions to hit the Westfield River and brave some rapids, paddlers told WAMC.
Whether it was by SUP, canoe or kayak, some hit the training clinics earlier in the month while others held their own warm-ups. Either way, they crowded Huntington for the start of the “Classic Race” over the weekend, with many clad in wet suits, while others went the festive route.
Sporting pirate regalia was Steve Cowley of Southampton, repurposing a costume from the haunted hayride he and others put on at Gwydyr Farm last year.
“We had a pirate theme two years ago, so I'm reusing my pirate outfit: I’ve got the hat… the puffy shirt, I had big, giant baggy pants. I got a piece of a medallion and… I have no plans of pirating anybody's canoes today, but, you know… gotta dress the part,” the farm owner and kayaker explained.
The festivities carried over to the watercraft, as well. Cowley was one half of a tandem kayak dubbed the “Divorce Machine” - his partner being Caroline Holladay.
“Yep, I got roped into this, and it's great,” she told WAMC. “I love a tandem kayak - it's a good day to get out on the water, I’m big fan of the race. It’s just a lovely, lovely [way] to spend a Saturday morning.”
Cowley says the boat’s name isn’t meant to be too morbid: it's more of a reference to the intense work and coordination needed to keep the thing going.
A few feet away at the Huntington launch point was another pair who definitely went all in on morbidity. Clad in Blues Brothers costumers were cousins Aaron Burke and Kyle Miller, prepped to paddle a canoe named after the SS Edmund Fitzgerald.
Burke says the name made sense, given what the cousins believed was bound to happen.
“It's only fitting, because we know we're going to go down, so it's a little poetic that our first race together… we do it in honor of ‘The Mighty Fitz.’ So, we took this vintage canoe, we painted her down, we sanded her down, we did a lot of fiberglass work, a lot of body work, lot of painting and after countless hours and countless weeks, she's finally river-ready, and… we're gonna give it hell.”
The inevitable did come to pass: both Westfield men ended up in the Westfield River, according to Burke’s Facebook posts.
It was something of a pattern Saturday, as it is every year: plenty of participants take on water, thanks to the rocks and rapids found across the eight-mile course, stretching from Huntington to Russell.
Fortunately, Race Director Harry Rock tells WAMC, there were no major incidents this year. He says that’s no small feat, nor is coordinating permits in two towns, plus police and fire department services.
But, he adds, it’s all worth bringing together community, as well as promoting river conservation .
“It's a phenomenal river and when you go back… 75-100 years ago, when all the paper companies were here, they were dumping all their residue in here and… I still hear people say that they could tell what color the paper was that day, based on what color the water was, because they were dumping everything in the rivers,” Rock says. “These rivers are pristine now: that water is crystal clear. I wouldn't say that you could drink it, but probably pretty close. We've got fish life, we've got animal life, there’s beavers, there's deer: this is a healthy, healthy environment, and we need to take care of what we have.”
The Westfield River contest initially started as a bet with beer as a prize 70 years ago, but is now operated under the Westfield River Watershed Association’s umbrella – a non-profit organization devoted to preserving one of the “healthiest tributaries” to the Connecticut River, its website states.
Speaking with WAMC earlier in April during one of the race’s clinics, WRWA’s Jake Lehan, said the river’s also a cold water fishery, and is home to more than a few designations.
“What's cool about this watershed and the river folks who are involved in that work is that we have a ‘Wild & Scenic’ group - that's a national designation through the National Park Service, and so they get funds to do this kind of work and they've been really building steam,” Lehan explained. “The Westfield River Watershed is where a lot of the first culvert assessments happened for aquatic connectivity, and that's pioneered that work for the rest of New England.”
It was that same watershed water that knocked plenty of paddlers off their boats during the weekend. If you were willing to climb down some ledges, spectators got a good view of some of the best spills from the river bank off Route 20, near Countryside Woodcraft.
Other locations included a rest stop in Russell, where Doug LaPlante of Holyoke and his group watched family members and others brave the stream, but also get plenty water-logged.
“Yeah, we saw a few people kind of ditch it in some of the rapids - nobody got hurt, they're all out there having fun, there's huge crowds along the river cheering them on and all that,” he said. “It's really great.”
Of course, safety personnel lined parts of the river, assisting those who lost their balance while helping them get shipshape again. One way or another, racers ended up crossing the finish line: a series of buoys on calmer waters near the Woronoco Dam.
Some were racing for fun while others were looking to best their times from last year. In terms of results, most of the top performers took over an hour or two to finish, though the fastest racers had them beat handidly.
Among them was Del Cummings and Kevin Chan, who managed to clear the classic race in 58:26. That was after the “Expert Race” wrapped up beforehand – about 30 people and 22 boats. The expert race paddler with the best time was reportedly Jeff Parker, finishing in 32:54.
As Rock tells WAMC, it’s not just top performers who get special trophy paddles at the end of the race. He estimates about 120 were handed out, based on various classes and categories.
The trophies themselves are carved well in-advance by retired industrial arts teacher Phil Sousa.
During a clinic, he told WAMC work on the wooden paddles starts a year beforehand. Having been part of the operation for some 35 years, he says its another tradition among many when it comes to the race.
“It's all a bunch of Hilltown people that run it and it’s a Hilltown race,” he said. “And I see the same people here that [have] helped run it [since] when I was started helping… it'll never stop.”
Speaking with WAMC fresh out of the water, Charley Brackett of Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, says he doesn't race too much anymore, but is happy to log a decent speed when he can. On Saturday, he earned a time of 1:09:07: likely enough to earn him a paddle.
“I don’t know, I ran the whitewater well… I think I used the river a lot, used a lot of currents, it worked really well… and then sometimes, I missed some current, because the faster the current, the faster you can go!” he explained.
Brackett’s also a board member of the New England Canoe and Kayak Racing Association, and says canoe and kayak racing season is well-underway. The Wappingers Creek Water Derby in Pleasant Valley, New York, slated for Saturday and Sturbridge All American in Sturbridge, Massachusetts is scheduled for Sunday.
Either way, Bracket says, the Westfield River race has a special place in his heart, having taken part in it about 30 times.
The competition itself is one of the oldest of its kind in the country, and has navigated tough waters of its own, including a near-cancellation in 2024 until Rock and company managed to raise enough funds to keep it going.
“Oh, Harry Rock is like a god: he brought this back - it almost ended a couple years ago, a few years back - and he's done everything in-depth, everything's covered: safety, the people helping you take the boats out of the water, it's just awesome the way he does it,” he added.
More race results can be found here.
— James Paleologopoulos (@WAMC_J_Paleo) April 18, 2026
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A shortened version of this story previously aired on Monday, April 20, 2026.
