There’s pretty much nowhere Greg Foster would rather be than Earl’s hole at the Minden Whitewater Preserve.
Climbing out of his kayak for a chat, Foster says, “this is my happy place; where I come to relax, be by myself, do what I love to do.”
He’s not long back from Plattling, Germany, where he competed in the 2025 ICF Canoe Freestyle World Championships. Foster qualified in OC1 and C1, where he placed 8th and 16th respectively.
“It was an amazing experience,” Foster says while seated on a bench overlooking Earl’s hole on the Gull River.
He didn’t place as well as he wanted, but it was his first worlds. “I couldn’t really expect huge things from a first-time world event.”
His home river was much different than the one in Plattling, so it was a challenge, “going from something I know to something I have no idea what I’m dealing with.”
He chides himself for being a bit last minute. He said he had a day to watch competitors on the river and maybe only 10 minutes of practice. He spent a lot of time on his knees in a canoe waiting for his slot and “it got painful.”
He added the water levels were very low, with rocks only about eight inches below the surface. He said organizers had to end the event early for the safety of competitors and their boats.
Foster said if he were to do it again – and he is hoping to qualify for the 2027 worlds in Sort, Spain – he’ll go two or three weeks in advance to practise. “I want to get the best possible outcome.”
There’s also time between now and then. Foster said there will be team trials in 2026. He plans to try out for a bunch of events: K1, C1, OC1, and see where he gets seated “and go from there.”
He’s asked if it is rare to compete in so many events and says it is. For him, the phrase ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ is reversed as ‘jack of all trades, master of all.’
“I always get told by people, ‘I get bored on the river.’ I never get bored. There’s always something to do. There’s always improvement … miniscule skills, something as simple as efficient ferrying, I keep the river interesting.”
One thing he needs to work on is boat control, and getting in tune with the hole as it reacts to his boat. One thing he struggled with at June’s worlds was left-handed paddling for tricks. He’s used to right-handed at Earl’s. “I was trying to learn on my off side on the fly.”
He said Sort will favour left and right. And, it’s a powerful hole. He said in Minden, Earl’s flushes out boaters naturally. But not so in Sort. It means the prospect of being “washing machined or window shaded.
“You get 45 seconds to throw your best, and do your best combinations of tricks you can possibly do. If you get window shaded for 20 seconds of that, you have to try to recover within two seconds, and try to continue your run.”
He is already excited for his second worlds, mind you. “Time flies so I just make the best of the time I have this summer, I’m probably only going to have May, June and part of July 2026 and then team trials within a year from now.”
Tree monkey
By day, Foster is an arborist, or as he refers to it, a “tree monkey.” He tries to get out at least a couple of nights a week after work if not too exhausted, Most weekends, he’s on the river.
He said two of his friends got injured recently. He does not want to be on the river when his temperature is already elevated or he is dehydrated from working in hot, humid weather, since “the river is unforgiving and it favours no one.”
Foster said it can be non-stop, recalling a recent 12-hour drive to compete in Quebec. Plus, there’s the financial toll.
He’s asked about sponsors, but says he’s never really had one, and isn’t sure what that would look like. “If someone wanted to help me out financially to get overseas when the time comes, or if I need to buy new gear. But for the most part, I like to try and stay self-sufficient. I don’t really like to put my hand out, it makes me feel like a beggar. I like to stay strong and do it myself.”
After all, up to now, it’s between Foster and the river.
“I have a respect for it, but I don’t have a fear of it. I can do whatever I want, how I want, and no one can say anything …it’s just total freedom.”
