Helen Parfitt | Jul 26, 2017


Last Saturday, SLCC competitive paddlers, Sydney Hausen, Madelaine Wood, Grace Swinton, Clare Swinton(left to right), of the Sydenham Lake Canoe Club, competed in the Annual Carleton Place Regatta to place fourth in their Girls U15 K4 event. Twins, Mathieu & Nicholas Symons came 1st in their K2 U15 Boys event.

Youthful, yet up and coming paddlers Kiera Wilson, Charlotte Wilson, Isaac Merchant, and Parker Friendship stayed afloat and proudly came 8th in their Mixed U11 K4 event. There was no bickering to be heard from any of these boats as they knew that they must work together to succeed. The ten young paddlers, who competed in the event, will have an opportunity to put their team spirit to the test in the final U15 competitive event of the season held on their own home turf.

Sydenham will be hosting the Eastern Ontario U15 Championship Regatta on Saturday, August 19th. The Regatta should prove to be an exciting event with over 100 paddlers and their families coming to Sydenham to compete in multiple canoe and kayaking events. Sydenham’s nationally sanctioned regatta course is highly regarded in the paddling community for its fine water quality and line of sight visibility. Since Sydenham didn’t host a regatta last summer, out of town paddlers will have their first opportunity to enjoy the newly restored Point facilities and accessible pathways. 

Now in its twentieth year, the Sydenham Lake Canoe Club is an established part of the region’s sprint racing canoe kayak tradition producing a number of notable paddlers despite its small size. Sydenham kayaker and Team Ontario member, Genevieve L’Abbe recently qualified for the Canada Summer Games that take place in Winnipeg during the first week of August. She is following in the footsteps of canoeist Natasha Ostopovich who qualified for the Games as a part of Team Ontario in 2005.

Along with the competitive and lesson program, SLCC offers a Canoe Kids Day Camp. The camp follows the progression outlined by Canoe Kayak Canada’s Canoe Kids program. Paddlers earn bronze, silver and gold awards of achievement on completion. Any U15 paddler who has registered for a week of the Canoe Kids Camp or Lessons over the 2017 summer season is eligible to compete in the Sydenham EOD Regatta.

Program registration is ongoing throughout the summer, so it is never too late to sign your children up. For more information, please go to www.sydenhamlakecanoeclub.com .

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