WHITEWATER PARKS A REVIEW OF THE FIRST 50 YEARS OF WHITEWATER PARK DESIGN

In this column, EJ shares why he believes Augsburg, Germany, is the best park built in the past 50 years of whitewater park design, and offers a look into what the future of park design holds.

By Eric Jackson

My first memory of a whitewater park was watching the ’72 Olympics in Munich. I was eight years old, and I have two distinct memories. Watching Mark Spitz win seven gold medals and watching kayakers race slalom at Augsburg. It is only fitting that I am writing this article, 50 years later, in the parking lot of US National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, at the Olympic Team Trials for this year’s Olympics. My daughter, Emily, write about Whitewater Parks. This article isn’t meant to be a history lesson; instead, it is more of a concept review and, perhaps, a look into the future. To this day, I will suggest that the best whitewater park ever built is still the 1972 course in Augsburg, Germany. My parameters for what makes a…

You're reading a preview of

Kayak Session (Digital) - 1 Issue, Summer 2021

DiscountMags is a licensed distributor (not a publisher) of the above content and Publication through Zinio LLC. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered on our website, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of DiscountMags. DiscountMags does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, truthfulness, or usefulness of all or any portion of any publication or any services or offers made by third parties, nor will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in any Publication, or your use of services offered, or your acceptance of any offers made through the Service or the Publications. For content removal requests, please contact Zinio.