CORRECTION

The Get Out! Get Fit! column in Thursday's Life, etc. section gave an incorrect date for the Rollapoolooza kayak clinic at Pullen Aquatic Center . The event is Jan. 19.

******

Q: Where's the center of the whitewater universe come January?

A: Raleigh.

Yes, this Raleigh.

That's thanks to Rollapoolooza, a quirky event dreamed up in 2000 by Raleigh Parks & Rec's Adventure Program and some local paddlesports enthusiasts.

At the time, Raleigh Parks & Rec was offering weekly winter roll clinics at Optimist Park's 50-meter pool, which until this year lived under a bubble come winter. (The pool is being converted to a permanent indoor-outdoor facility.) Take your whitewater kayak and Adventure Program staff and members of the Carolina Canoe Club would teach you the art of righting yourself after an inadvertent flip.

"Then," says Bittu Ali, who had been involved in the roll clinics, "one year the city decided it wanted to do an 'event.' "

Thus was born Rollapoolooza, which is this Saturday at the Pullen Aquatic Center. You'll still find the roll clinic. But you'll find a variety of other clinics, from basic stroke techniques to splashy freestyle moves. And the clinics are taught by some of the sport's top paddlers.

"It's a chance to work with world-class athletes, with Olympians, on a one-on-one to one-on-four basis," Ali says. "The public is paying, what, $10, $15 [the latter, it turns out]. You're not going to find that kind of instruction [at that price]."

Ali is paddlesports manager for Raleigh-based Great Outdoor Provision Co., which helps sponsor the event.

Rollapoolooza gets these top-notch athletes because their sponsors -- the folks who make boats, paddles and related equipment -- encourage them to go.

"January is a slow time of year," Ali says of the competitive paddling circuit. "Some of them are on vacation; some are shooting videos."

Ali says that because Rollapoolooza is unusual -- a clinic held in the winter, in an indoor pool -- it's developed a quirky cachet in the kayaking community.

"Some of the manufacturers use it as a springboard to launch their 2008 line," Ali says.

Thus, while the event is largely BYOB -- bring your own boat -- some of the latest technology will be available to test.

That it is BYOB shouldn't discourage novices from attending; between the city of Raleigh and GOPC there should be at least a dozen boats available to use, Ali says.

"If you don't have your own boat," says Ali, "come early and we can hook you up."

Every year, Ali says, event organizers like to expand the event. This year, they've added a gear swap. If you have gear you've outgrown -- physically or skillwise -- bring it, says Ali. That should be a particularly attractive element of Rollapoolooza for beginners. Newbies from the previous year who embrace the sport are typically eager to move into more challenging boats. Newbies who discover they're aquaphobic can't wait to part with their boats. Either way, there should be some solid entry-level boats to chose from.

And don't be intimidated by the fact that some of the world's top paddlers teach the clinics. Of the 150 or so folks who typically attend the event, Ali says "some of them are hard-core; some have never been in a boat before."

It's a good opportunity, Ali says, to sate your curiosity about whitewater paddling.