World Masters Games Sydney - report by Katja

Well, we are back from 30C in Cairns to 3C in Vancouver - brrr. Burnaby Lake pretty much froze over the day I was planning to go for a paddle.
The Games finished on Oct 19th already but Jeff and I spent some more time Downunder to recover and enjoy ourselves. Did not touch a paddle again until Dec 1 and if it stays like this I might not touch one till next year.
So were the Games fun? In hindsight it was fun but the racing at the World Masters Games in Penrith, Australia was some of the toughest racing I have done in a sprint boat to date and some of the most fun. I was happy that we choose to rent some more stable K1's (Super Lancers) or I would have done more swimming than paddling. Jeff and I competed in both the marathon races (K1 and K2) as well as the sprint races (1000, 500, 200m in K1, K2, K4). Jeff and I teamed up with Fiona and Mike Vincent from Regina for the K4. Other BCKC members also racing were Darrell and his wife Amber as well as Rosalie who teamed up with her sister from back east (sprint K1, K2, K4). Former BCKC member Micky competed in the whitewater races (K1 & teams) as well as sprint (K1).

We shared our accommodation in Penrith with Alex from Revelstoke who participated in one of BCKC's Masters training camps in 2005 in prep for the WMG in Edmonton. He competed in marathon (K1), sprint (K1) as well as swimming. Poor guy never got a rest day. Another Canadian in our "villa" was Neville from Nelson also competing in marathon (surfski, K2) and sprint (K2, K4). Last but not least a whole bunch of Aussies stayed with us - they had arranged for the 12 person Villa that was right across from the Marathon race start and only a 10min drive from the sprint course. Some of them had been in Canada for the WMG in Edmonton - Darren, Gary & John, others like Rob and his wife Margret hadn't but we became good friends right away. I almost forgot what wonderful people they are. They really took so good care of us: be it boats, food, rides, sight seeing ... pretty much everything!!!! BIG THANKS!!!

Enough of the intro, now to the racing part - it's going to be long!!! Jeff and I had a week before the games to acclimatize and train a bit which felt okay. Weather was rather on the cool and often rainy side but that kept the motorboats of the Nepean River (it was warmer in Vancouver when we left). You could paddle on the river all the way up from the Rowing Club which was the start of the marathon race into the Blue Mountains National Park. Pretty neat!!

Race Day 1 (Oct 13th): It did get sunny but it also got VERY windy for the games. I had trained sooo much this summer but didn't feel ready for the conditions we had. On the marathon course the wind was gusting up to 50-60km/hrs across the Nepean River (which would have been the ideal place for the 21km long event without those gusts). Needless to say there were "some" waves but mostly the wind catching your paddle was making it hard to even stay in the boat. Boats were flying around on the ground if they were not tied down (including mine which I shared with Alex who raced in the morning race - luckily no serious damage). Day 1 had all the singles races scheduled. I was holding on to my K1 till just before the race start - no chance to change into race gear, to take a leak, have a dink ... just thinking this is nuts and hold on tight. Our race didn't start till noon so lots of time for the wind to really build up. They made us wear PFD's due to the conditions (I borrowed one from Darren - a nice tight full neoprene, heavy and HOT PFD). Starts were pretty much mass start in 2 min intervals for the different age groups between 30 and 45 of age and crafts (K1, Trainer K1, surfskis, sea kayaks). There must have been over 200 boats on the water at the same time. But the wash was hardly a factor. I had an okay start since we were protected by some trees but it went downhill from there pretty quick. No matter how often I told myself I am in the most stable K1 and I can do this I was terrified of being blown into the water by the next big gust which came every 30sec or so. I didn't fall in but I hardly paddled. Mostly bracing and trying to get a couple low strokes in the headwind or try to float down river in the tailwind. I was ready to quit every time I got near the downriver turn which was also the finish line - we had to do 3 loops of 7km. But I didn't - too stubborn. I did finished but it took well over 2hrs. Most girls finished about 15min or more ahead of me (including my K4 partner Fiona, although she fell in 2 or 3 time - well done, she must have been paddling in between swims). I was passed by surfskis and sea kayaks on the course which started 2-4min after me. I was ready to quit the sport right there and then. I was totally exhausted but tried to tell myself the wind will ease up over night and we'll have a much better K2 race tomorrow - another 21km. Our Aussie friends did their best to cheer me up. Darren did well and won his age class and I am sure he was one the fasted person overall on the course that day. Jeff also finished his race, his time was a bit better than mine but he also wasn't happy with the "race" - more survival than racing. That wind was a killer. They had canceled all the rowing events for that day before we even got on the water. Anyhow, our Aussie friends dragged us out for a fabulous dinner and the spirit slowly returned to being excited for the next race. We always have our best races in K2.

Race Day 2: K2 racing today. Jeff and I had borrowed a VanDusen from the Illawarra Canoe Club which we paddled once before (also in windy conditions) - not bad but quite a bit more tippy than the Sagitta we usually race. The day actually started off almost with no wind and the over age 50 racers (started racing at 8am) were lucky to nearly finish their race in reasonable conditions. No such luck for us. The wind started building again at about 10am and was again gusting at 50km/h by 11:30am; wind direction was a bit more downriver and a bit less across. I never wished to be 50 before but that day did. Nevertheless, we launched our K2 and I thought we'd be swimming soon but we managed to find some rhythm in the VanDusen K2 and were ready for the start (upriver). We actually had a great start - one of our best ones and were able to hang on with the faster younger mixed teams and Fiona and Mike for a little bit. They dropped us before the first turn but we kept them in sight. We were battling it out with another mixed crew also in our age category (so are Fiona & Mike) - so we battled for 2nd. The wind was atrocious and we did a lot of bracing but we also paddled. The up river turn had waves of 1-2feet coming down the river - no fun but we managed. The turns were always where the other crew passed us again and we could never hang on as well as they did when we passed them on the upwind leg. My heart stopped a couple times when I thought this gust is gonna send us swimming for sure. Somehow we managed to stay afloat. At the end I seriously ran out of gas and we ended up 3rd with Fiona & Mike winning our division well ahead and 2nd place Australia only a min or so ahead. It was a better race but it was still not what we trained for. All arms, no leg dive (Lynn, I know there isn't much leg drive in the first place but any little bit would have helped). So overall we were pleased with how we did. I also found out that I won a bronze in yesterdays K1 race. Although I was one of the slowest women K1's out there only 3 out of the 7 or 8 boats that started in my division finished. I guess pure stubbornness does pay off sometimes.

Rest Day 3: Oh yeah I needed that. My arms and shoulders were so sore, I think they still are. We watched Micky doing his whitewater races which was very cool. See this link for some pictures:http://picasaweb.google.com/krade1709/ForMicky. The day again started out calm and the wind came in the afternoon. Maybe there is hope for even later wind or no wind tomorrow for the sprint races.

Race Day 4: 1000m races. K1s were scheduled in the morning, and team boats in the afternoon. But my friend the wind decided to start blowing early today as well. Right down the race course in Penrith (Race course for the 2000 Olympics - pretty cool facility with warm up lake and starting pontoons and score board). The organizers had planned to have ALL 1000m races finished by 5pm. That meant the intervals between races was only 5min. The headwind was probably 25-30km/h. On a good day it takes me just under 5min and I am sure there are people there that are slower than I. So you can imaging how badly on time they were after the first 3 races of the day already. So it was really hard to judge when to go out for you race so that you did not have to sit out there in the 2 foot chop and wait for your race to start. Well one could hide right behind the pontoons out of the waves. But that also meant that in front of the pontoon were you started from the waves were even bigger due to the rebounding waves. Sound like fun? Anyhow, Jeff went out for his race as it was scheduled. So he had to sit there for a long time. I tried to watch races and time it based on 6 races before mine. We had a little bit of a last minute boat panic as well. Alex, with whom I was sharing boats made into the finals for his age class - well done!! But the final was also scheduled close to my K1 race. So we had to quickly find another boat. Luckily Micky had a spare Tornado and Jeff was more than happy to paddle in that so that I could take the other super lancer. Well there were also some medium Nelos available - yeah right. So I made it down to the warm up lake - nice tail wind and tried a couple warm up sprints into the wind. Well, not so much of a sprint but paddling as hard as I could just prevented me from going backwards. That's going to be a long 1000m race I thought but hey I am more of a long distance paddler, right? So I paddled through the tunnel into the race course about 500m behind the start line with the starting pontoon and fought my way up there thinking my race should be starting soon. Not so, they were more than 2hrs behind schedule. So I bobbed around in the waves, getting more and more tight in my hips and tired keeping the boat up. I saw Jeff line up for his race and he seemed to do okay, start looked as usual. My biggest fear was to go around the pontoon and back into the starting position. I was lane 3. Eventually they did and I got around the pontoon but didn't manage to turn correctly to back in so I tried to turn on the spot in 2 foot rebounding waves ... you know what's coming. I went in. Well, the good thing, I could crawl onto the starter platform and turn my boat the correct way before getting back in. The bad part, my shoes and pool noodle (required floatation device) were also in the water floating around. Luckily the people holding the boats fished those out for me. Ah the start - I was just glad enough to be able to sit were I was, no way I moved forward to the actual start line. And the starter seemed to be okay with that since he needed to get the race going. By the way, I wasn't the only one swimming - at least 2 other out of the 7 girls did the same. We did get the race started with everyone in the boat, not necessarily lined up. So off we went and it was a LONG race. I was okay with stability but again no leg drive, hands low and still dropping every stroke (Lynn, you would have been in tears), etc. It was one long haul, no pick ups, no real finish but to my surprise I did finish 3rd behind a girl from Russia in 1st and Sharyn from Australia in 2nd - Sharyn and I were neck on neck till the last 20m or so. I should have been 4th but the former Aussie national team member Shelley Oats-Wielding (raced in the 2000 Olympics) didn't show up for the race. With the K1 race done I was a bit more relaxed. The team boats weren't till the afternoon with the K4 and K2 races only 20min apart or so and we had lots of time to watch races. It was really cold though despite the sun - the wind was blowing through the stands and I was covered in all the fleece clothing/blankets I brought from home. We started setting up our K4 early since Jeff and I had never paddled with Fiona and Mike before. The K4 was again borrowed from Illawarra - big thanks to Gary, Rob and Darren for bringing up all those extra boats. We went out early for our race and were circling around a lot. The boat was stable though and we had no problems besides getting tired sitting around. Fiona was in seat 1, I was 2nd, Mike 3rd and Jeff 4th. The race went well but we didn't have to kill ourselves. Although there were in total 10 boats on the start line only 3 were in our category and we beat those easily. I think we were 4 or 5th overall, not bad given that there were younger mixed as well as men's teams in the race. We had to rush back to get our K2 which we actually stored on the race course side and were paddling up the race course to the start (usually not allowed but since our races were back to back pretty much they made an exception). Jeff was a bit rocky in the boat going up and we couldn't get into our usual rhythm. So waiting for the start was tough and we almost killed each other. Luckily they called our race and we had to line up. Even luckier, we had lane 9 and no pontoon blocking us and therefore no backing into the starting position. We could paddle straight in until the starter kid grabbed our stern. We messed up the start with a big brace - not too unusual for us - then had a good first 500m even with the strong headwind. But we got off centre and our balance went to hell again and I even braced a couple times during the race - yes I felt bad about that. We were 5th or 6th overall but 3rd in our age class. The race was again combining several age classes but all mixed teams. Fiona and Mike were well in front and the team that came 2nd was the same that beat us in the marathon. Darn. That concluded our first sprint race day but racing was still going on till almost 7pm until it got dark. Needless to say, they did not manage to finish all the 1000m races and rescheduled them for early in the morning.

Race Day 5: 500m. And can you believe it, no wind!!!!! Yeah!!! It was a warm sunny day and the racing was great in flat calm conditions. I had the best 500m race in my life (the way the race went, I've yet to find out my time but doesn't matter) and came in 3rd again. Ahead of Aussie Sharyn and behind Aussie Shelley (Ex National Team who showed up today) way ahead in 1st and the Russian girl in 2nd, just ahead of me. I just managed to pass Sharyn in the last 200 meters or so - think I caught some of Shelley's wash. I have never been this exhausted after a K1 race and I felt great. K4 was again a good race coming in 5th overall and 1st in our division. K2 was also a much better race, very solid and we finished 3rd overall and 2nd in our division (the boat that beat us yesterday wasn't in the race unfortunately - I am convinced we would have had them today). That's what Jeff and I had been training for all those years. Only 200s left and who cares about those :-)

Race Day 6: 200m. Slight tailwind for a change and mostly sunny. Not much to say here. K1 went well after a crappy start. Aussie Sharyn, the Russian girl and I pretty much crossed the finish line together. I was even trying to shoot my boat a bit. Too close to tell from the water but I did come in 2nd after ex-Olympian Shelley. Cool - I never thought I am a 200m specialist :-). K4 was good as usual, 4th overall and 1st in our division. Our K2 finished strong again 3rd overall and 2nd behind Fiona and Mike in our division. The whole day went by very quickly and the regatta finished pretty much on time. But they were running out of medals and had some quite angry paddlers hovering around the officials. We never got our medals for the K2 or K4 - oh well. We also never made it onto the Canada Team photo since we had to return the K4 to the Aussies for one of their races. But watch out for Darrell, Amber and Rosalie - if it ever makes it into "Paddles Up".

Lots of pictures can be found here: http://picasaweb.google.com/krade1709/WMG2009

Next World Masters Games are in 2013 in Turin, Italy. Start training for it!!!

Kristin's report from the World Marathon Race in Portugal

" We arrived in Lisbon, Portugal after a long day and a half of travelling. Surprisingly, the weather was just like home! We temporarily got settled into our hotel and then decided to do some sightseeing. We took a tour around Lisbon, or Lisboa as the Portuguese call it, and learned about some of the amazing historic monuments and buildings around town. On Monday morning we met up with some of the other paddlers and began our three hour drive to Porto. The scenery was really interesting because of numerous ruins of ancient buildings along the way. As we approached Porto I was so happy I wasn’t the one driving! Every exit from a highway led to another highway, and the signs were nearly impossible to figure out. After a few misinterpretations of signs and a few wrong turns, we managed to make it to the hotel.
The next morning we drove to Crestuma, a town with a population of only 3,000 people, to see the course. The setting was quite spectacular at the river with a significant dam at the end of the course. We had to get all our boats set up for racing so we put handles on the boats to be able to carry them during the portage, and fit foot pumps in to be able to empty them while racing. The course was a 4-km lap with a 150 metre portage, with the first bit of the portage being uphill.
The first two days of racing were Masters’ K1 and K2’s, which was really inspiring to watch, especially when some of the age categories were 70+. I hope that I’m in similar shape when I am that age! Our Canadian Masters Team won a total of 3 medals in their races. The following days were Junior, U23, and Senior races, each category racing different distances. As my race was approaching, I was slowly starting to get more nervous, but excited at the same time. I watched my teammate Kiran, race directly before me and that helped to prepare me a bit more for what to expect right off the start and during the portages. After all last-minute final preparations, I was on the water warming up to race. I lined up with twenty other girls on the starting dock, and with a “READYGO” at 11:45am we were off! Although I wasn’t completely ready when the start was called, I managed to get off the line successfully. One of my biggest worries of the race – the start – was over. My next focus was on the portage and making sure I could get out of my boat and get back in smoothly, which I was able to do. The next four laps of the race I did on my own as I was out of touch from a wash-riding group. Mentally it was tough to keep going at a good pace, but I managed to fight through it. Surprisingly, I quite enjoyed all the portages in the race. They gave me an extra boost to keep working through the race and they all went much smoother than I expected! Although I crossed the finish line completely exhausted, marathon racing is definitely something I plan to continue doing in the future to learn how much further I can push myself.
The next day was the day I was most looking forward to, the Senior events with our fellow B.C. paddler, Ian MacKenzie racing Senior Men’s K1. Many of us had heard how amazingly fast his portages were and he certainly didn’t disappoint! It was amazing to watch him demonstrate his expertise, skill and speed throughout the race.
Overall, the entire experience in Portugal having the opportunity to race at the Marathon World Championships was unforgettable and I look forward to more exciting marathon racing in the future!"
Pictures: Portugal_Photos_Kristin.docx

Kiran at the World Marathon Champs in Portugal

"We flew into Lisbon, Portugal on Sunday morning and did a bit of sightseeing there before driving to Porto on Monday afternoon. The city is fairly old with cobblestone roads and beautiful monuments everywhere.

For the first few days there, until we raced, we got our boats organized and fitted with pumps. We got out on the water a couple of times and tried a few portages to get rid of the kinks before race day.

The race course was on the river, Drouro, that past through a small village in Crestuma and was surrounded by beautiful green hills. It almost felt like home with all the greenery...asides from the slight language barrier! On Wednesday and Thursday we were able to watch the masters race in both K1 and K2 which was a good way to get a feel for just how intense this competition is! We were able to watch some of the do's and don'ts of exiting your boat and then re-entry off the beach! Watching the masters race made me hope that i can be as fit as they are and still compete when i get older. Friday morning finally rolled in and my race was set to start at 9:33am just after the Junior Men's K1. I could definitely feel the nerves starting to kick in! I went out for warm up and started seeing some of the girls in my race...they were big! Well, big in comparison to me which isn't hard to do. We lined up against the dock and had people holding our boats in place off the start. I was told before i got on the water that the start was VERY quick!

The start isn't close to the same as sprint kayaking. You don't get any warning that's for sure! The starter simply calls boat numbers to move up or back and suddenly says, "READYGO!!" Literally one word. I had a bit of a slow start because I wasn't as prepared for that first stroke as I could've been. I ended up finishing 19th out of 23 girls which i was happy with. I had a fairly smooth race asides from one entry on the beach where i tipped and had to empty my boat. It was my first time at Marathon Worlds so i wasn't sure what to expect. I'm looking forward to training and working on my portages and endurance for Marathon Worlds next year. After my race was finished, i was able to kick back and enjoy the rest of the races. My favourite race had to be Senior Men's K1. In the past, I've heard how well Ian Mackenzie has done in marathon kayaking. However, just hearing that, you can't fully understand just how amazing and quick he is! I was excited to be able to see him race finally and cheer him on! Some of the top finishers in the senior men's race, which consists of racers age 24+, were 40+ years old and they were beating the young guns! It inspired me to start preparing for next years Worlds in Spain. Overall it was an amazing trip and i look forward to more marathon competitions in the future. "

Below pictures of the Senior K1 Race:

Ian

The lead pack

Canoe/Kayak Sprint Nationals 2009 wrap up (by Rebecca)

6 BCKC'ers attended Nationals 2009 in Sherbrooke Quebec Sept 2-5, 2009. Rebecca, Kristin and Kiran raced for Burnaby along with Sarah P. who trains in Ridge. Conor raced for Ridge and Nicole raced for her home club of Nanaimo. Compared with Canada Games conditions were excellent with a small headwind for most of the week. Many boats made it into the final events.

Sarah and Kristin medalled for Burnaby, coming 3rd in the Jr. Womens K2 500m.
Other notable Burnaby performances:
Kiran and Rebecca - 5th in Juvie Womens K2 1000, 7th in Juvie Womens K2 500
Rebecca - 6th in Juvie Womens K1 1000
Kiran and Sarah - 6th in Junior Womens K2 1000
Kristin - 7th in Junior Womens K1 1000
The Burnaby K4 of Kiran, Kristin, Rebecca and Sarah came 8th in the Senior Womens K4 500m and showed that they belong into this elite group of athletes.

Conor and the other Ridge canoers placed well in team boats, coming 5th in the Juvie Mens IC4 1000 with Kieffer, Matty and Keegan and placing 9th in the Juvie Mens C2 1000 with Keegan

Nicole continued her winning streak with 2 golds in Sr womens C1 500 and Jr womens C1 200, slivers in Sr C1 1000 and Sr C1 200, and a 4th in the Jr womens 500.

Nicolas and Sebastian Foellmer raced for Lac Sregent this year and competed in Midget K4, K2 and War Canoe (8th) after spending the summer in Quebec paddling. These great young talents will be back training with Burnaby this fall and hopefully race for us next year.

Terry Fox Run on September 13

BCKC members Rebecca, Jeff and Katja participated in the Terry Fox run last weekend in Burnaby to help raising money for cancer research. It was a beautiful sunny and hot day and the 8/10km seemed a long way. Luckily they had lots of volunteers out to keep us "runners" hydrated. Hopefully we will get more members out next year to support this great event.

Congratulations Jim - World Dragon Boat Champ

Gold for Jim and the mixed U23 team in the 200 metre race today at the World Dragon Boat Championships in Czech Republic.

Proud Dad took a great picture of Jim and proud Mom in Prag but unfortunately I am having problems getting pictures uploaded.

Congratulations to Team BC

The Kayak & Canoeing events are over at Canada Summer Games. Team BC won 9 medals in total in this discipline. Here are some of the highlights concerning BCKC athletes and associate members.

Rebecca - Bronze in K2 2000m and K2 1000m with Clara from RCKC
Kiran - 4th in K1 2000m
Conor - 4th in C2 2000m with Keegan from RCKC
Kristin - 5th in K1 500m and K2 500m and 200m with Sarah from RCKC
Nicole (NCKC) - Gold in C1 200 and 500m, Silver in C1 1000m, Bronze in C2 1000m with Michelle from RCKC
Elliot (FLCC) - 4th in K4 1000m with athletes from RCKC

Congratulations to all. From what I heard the weather wasn't always cooperating with the event. Strong winds caused delays and made for less favourable race conditions. Maybe we get some live commentaries from the actual athletes once they are back in town . But first they are off to Quebec for the Canadian Sprint Nationals

BCKC athletes to compete at Canada Summer Games and Dragonboat Worlds

Burnaby athletes Kiran, Rebecca, Kristin, Conor and Jim together with other members of Team BC were cheering on Nicole at the Senior Worlds. With this much support winning a gold medal must habe been "easy".

C-Conor, A - Jim, W - Rebecca, S (right) - Kristin, O (right) - Kiran

The girls and Conor are of to PEI on Aug 22nd to participate in the Canada Summer Games for BC. Check out the website for details http://www.jeuxducanada2009.ca/en/ and results.

Jim is off to Europe to take part in the World Dragonboat Championships in Prag as part of the U23 team for Canada. More info on this event can be found here http://www.dragonboat2009.com/

Nicole is a WORLD Champion

Today Nicole Haywood from Nanaimo BC won GOLD in the C1 500m event at the World Championships in Dartmouth with a time of 2:20, nine seconds ahead of the next fastest competitor. CONGRATULATIONS Nicole. Next she is off to PEI as part of Team BC to compete in the Canada Summer Games.

Making a dream come true - Nicole's Summer

Here is Nicole's report about her summer of training/racing - she has kept herself quite busy and it has paid off:


"I have been in Rideau training this summer, and have had an exciting and successful racing season so far. It started with National Team Trials #1 in May, which showed me what a hard winter of training can do ;) After trials I continued to train hard in C1 and in C2 with Katie Findlay. My next regatta was Canada Day at Rideau, where I got the chance to race in 2 Rideau war canoes! Then we were off to Lake Placid as a warm-up for trials #3. Two weeks later in Montreal I had one of the best races of my life, doing a 2:14.440 500m. That qualified me to race for CANADA at the 2009 Senior World Championships in Dartmouth August 12-16. I will be heading to Halifax next Wednesday to participate in the International Development camp for women's canoe, and then will race the C1 500m. at Worlds. The rest of the summer will see me competing at the Canada Games and then Nationals - I think I will really appreciate the September break! Then it will be back to SFU and training at Burnaby Lake :)"

Congratulations NICOLE!!!!!

Nicole, associate BCKC member with a home at the Nanaimo Canoe and Kayak Club, has been training with us at Burnaby since last fall. This past weekend in Montreal she had the race of her life which she had been training for for years! Nicole won the C1 500m and has just been named to the Canadian World's Team who will compete at the 2009 World Championships in Dartmouth, NS August 12 - 16th.

Nicole will also be competing with Conor, Kiran, Rebecca & Kristin at the Canada Summer Games at the end of August.

Ridge Invitational July 11-12, 2009

The BCKC team enjoyed a great regatta hosted by the Ridge Canoe and Kayak Club on beautiful Whonnock Lake last weekend. Sunny and hot on Saturday; overcast and cool on Sunday. This regatta is designed for younger and newer paddlers as well as encourages participation across disciplines - have K1 paddlers in C-boats and the other way around. Distances are 500 and 200m and some 2-4km races for the younger ages. We had quite a few of the junior and beginner kids join us for this regatta. Nicole, Liz, David, Trevor, Eric, Cam & Paul joined veterans Rebecca, Emily, Kendra, Connor, Jim, Jeff and Katja. And for the war canoe we recruited some of the parents such as Dave, Ben and Mike. Kit even came out only for the war canoe race, so did Krista (plus Lukas, Anouk and husband Fred). Unfortunately the schedule ran late and Krista had to leave to get her young kids home. For more pictures go here: http://picasaweb.google.com/krade1709/RidgeRegattaJuly1112

The BCKC camp with parents watching the racing and athletes recovering in the shade

Eric and Cam after their great performance in the Bantam K2 200m race

Nicole and Liz coming in from their Bantam K2 200m - well done girls

Many times we teamed up the veterans with the newer paddlers. Above picture features Jim and Trevor.

David and Rebecca testing out C2 (using a beginner C1). Both of them a kayakers but did finish the 500m long race!!!

C4 - Connor, Jim, Katja and Jeff - only Connor is a C-boat paddler

Jim and the boys from Fort Langley were having some fun trying to tow a "water skier"

And Dave volunteered as usual as the motor boat driver, while Debbie (no picture available) officiated both days
WAR CANOE - A complete BCKC boat ages 10 to 50+

Good form but we did get beat for the first time in 3 years by the crews from Ridge and Fort Langley/Victoria. Mind you they all had their HP atheletes racing and no masters or beginners in the boat.

Junior Sprint Practice July 01, 2009

Our new paddles know no holidays. Now that the weather is nice and warm they are training every day of the week for 2hrs. Coaches Kendra and Emily run the show. Today's lesson was trying different boats - C1 and more advanced K1's. Paul, Cam and Trevor showed up for practice and seem to have a lot of fun. We also signed up a new master paddler today, Cam's dad Mike - an avid surfski paddle who tried some sprint boats today as well.

Paul is getting canoe stroke lessons on the dock by Kendra ...

...it seem to have helped

The newest member Cam trying out a Lancer for the first time - looks great

Trevor trying out the C1 with Emily's help

And here is Trevor in the Super Lancer

While Emily instructs Cam in the C1 - pretty good for his second practice

And here is Cam's dad Mike also mastering the C1 - more or less

Everyone of course fell in at least once - this picture shows coach Kendra going for a swim

Ted Houk Regatta Seattle June 13-14, 2009

For the forth or fifth time in a row BCKC took a trailer full of boats (we just got our NEW trailer thanks to Dave with lots of room for ours and FLCC's boats) and atheletes down to Seattle to participate in the Ted Houk Memorial Regatta put on by the Seattle Canoe and Kayak Club. Their race course on Green Lake is one of the best in the Pacific Northwest reagion and the host club always puts on a great event with lots of racing and a potluck dinner on Saturday nigthts. This year we had great warm weather and even the legendary cross wind at the 500m mark did stay away. 8 BCKC paddlers competed: High Performance athletes Jim, Nic, Sebastian, Kristin, Kiran and Rebecca teamed up with Masters athletes Darrell and Katja. The girls sure dominated the Open Women devision with Kristin almost winning all her races (except for the one where she teamed up with the oldie). Many of the parents were cheering on the athletes from the sideline and provided trasnportation - thanks to Dave, Vicki, Kamal and Diane.Full results can be found here: http://www.seattlecanoeclub.org/race-results

Matching K2 teams before the Open Women K2 1000m race: Kiran, Katja, Rebecca, Kristin

Jim, Nic and Sebastian teamed up with FLCC paddler Elliot for the Open Men K4 1000m and put on a stellar performance

Darrell fighting hard in the Open Men K1 1000m heat - here head to head with Ridge paddler Mike.

Lining up for the 5k race at 7:30am on Sunday morning - 50 paddlers started together in each group, 3 groups starting withing a couple minutes of each other. That makes for a crowded race course.

For additional pictures check here: http://picasaweb.google.com/krade1709/TedHoukRegattaSeattle1314June2009#

Round Bowen Race June 7, 2009

A favorite with our Masters paddlers - the 10th annual Round Bowen Race put on by Bowen Island Sea Kayaking - a 32km circumnavigation of Bowen Island in How Sound just north of Vancouver. This race is open to surfskis, sea kayaks and outriggers. Paddlers come from as far as Wisconsin to compete. BCKC member Chris competed in the men's single surfski class while Ben & John, Gary & Sean and Katja & Jeff teamed up in double surfskis.


For more info see here: http://surfskibc.wordpress.com/2009/06/12/race-results-round-bowen-challenge/

The start line

Just after the start

Katja & Jeff coming into the fnish - 3rd overall - some way behind two strong men's doubles from the US.

Tour de Indian Arm May 10 2009

A day after the marathon race in Ft Langley some of us went to do the Tour de Indian Arm - another 19km course this time on the ocean. The weather was still great. BCKC members Katja & Jeff and Ben & John teamed up in a double surfskis while Darrell, Gary, Chris and Jean went in single surfskis.

Katja & Jeff getting ready

Jean before the start with Darrell lining up next to him

Fast start for the doubles

Gary on his way back into the cove

Ft Langley Classics May 9 2009

The second Marathon Race of the season this time on the Fraser River in Ft Langley. The weather was great and the current much less of a struggle than last year. It was still flowing fast but not as much weird stuff going on. Hugging the shore on the upstream leg sure made a difference. BCKC members Kiran, Rebecca, Katja, Jeff, Jim and John braved the 20km long course.

Shortly after the start - Ken in the lead pulling a whole bunch of K1.

Lap 1: First up river turn.

Kiran & Doug turning downriver

Lap 2: Jeff in his surfski pulling the youngsters in their K1's

Next group with Elliot and Jim in tow

John in pursuit in his surfski

Katja on the downhill/river leg charging towards the finish line

With Rebecca in pursuit

The finish line - all happy smiles

Spring Run Off Marathon in Victoria - Apr 18, 2009

This year's marathon race in Victoria treated the paddlers with much nicer conditions weather wise. Instead of the snow we had last year, this year the sun even come out for a bit. Temperature were just about right for racing. 7 BCKC members made the trip to the Island: Kiran, Kristin, Jim & Jean in K1, Nicole in C1 and Katja & Jeff in K2.

While the weather was nice, the water turned out to be much more challenging this year. The 6km long water loop took us through Tillicum Narrows and with an outgoing tide the current was flowing at up to 5knots near the end of the race (5 laps for some of us). Lots of boat banging and collisions with the barnacle covered walls while trying to navigate through the narrows. But besides some scratched up boats we all finished - not all race participants did. Don Craig was taking some pictures at the portage during the race - many thanks to Don Craig Photography: http://doncraigdesign.com/gorge_marathon_2009/

Deep Cove Race Night - April 14

Tuesday was the second night out racing in Deep Cove. Again is was nice and sunny albeit a bit on the cool site. Several BCKC members were out racing surfskis - the above picture shows Sebastian in a Think Uno. B

For race write up and video see the Surfski BC weblog http://surfskibc.wordpress.com/2009/04/17/race-results-april-14-at-deep-cove/ and the race results can be found as usual on the Deep Cove Site at http://www.deepcovekayak.com/rental-and-lessons/racing/tnr-current-results/

Below are Jean & Jeff fighting for the lead.

Winter just doesn't want to end

Today, Jean, Jeff and Katja battled another late winter snowstorm paddling K1 and K2 on Burnaby Lake. The wind was breezy out of the east adding to the misery on the water. But hey - the great thing about the west coast you can paddle all year long :-)


Last weekend was another surfski race event in English Bay. BCKC paddlers Chris, Gary, Jeff and Katja braved some nasty conditions. Due to the cold and stiff wind out of the west creating some nice waves the organizers altered the race course to allow for some downwind racing. See race results and race video here: http://surfskibc.wordpress.com/2009/03/10/race-results-march-7-at-vancouver/