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