We love a good kayak race, especially when it happens in our own backyard. Fortunately for us, one of the most exciting races on the planet happens right here in Idaho on the North Fork Payette.  With an insanely steep gradient and narrow, boulder-strewn channel, the North Fork serves up a steady diet of class IV and V action along Highway 55 near the small town of Banks. The Elite level racers battle it out on the river’s notorious Upper 5, a five-mile stretch of unrelenting whitewater which includes the legendary rapids Jacob’s Ladder and Golf Course…now with slalom gates.

In addition to a rowdy pack of Idaho locals, the North Fork Championship gathers top paddlers from around the Pacific Northwest and the world. The party alone is worth the trip, but the event is really all about the boating. NRS in-house photo man Jacob Boling was there with his camera. He brings you this gallery of pure, unadulterated eye candy.

See you there next year.