Sydenham paddlers return from Nationals

Sep 02, 2010

Photo: NBCC's C4 team l-r: Robyn Miazga, Cia Myles-Gonzalez, Zaffia Laplante and Regan Jackson., courtesy of Kim and Erik Miazga

In a rare occurrence for any paddling club, two members of the Sydenham Lake Canoe Club (SLCC), Robyn Miazga and Cia Myles-Gonzalez both of Sydenham, joined the North Bay Canoe Club (NBCC) in order to be able to compete in more events at this year’s Nationals, which were held at Wascana Lake Park in Regina, Saskatchewan, August 25-29.

The change came about early in August when one member of the SLCC girls’ C4 midget team fell ill which meant that though Robyn and Cia could still compete in their C2 race, they would not have been able to compete in the C4.

That all changed when two members of the North Bay Canoe Club, 13-year-old Zaffia Laplante and 14-year-old Regan Jackson, found themselves in a similar situation. One of their parents approached SLCC coach Devon Bayly-Jones at the Eastern Ontario Division qualifying races back in August, wondering if the two crews could join forces.

Sydenham coach Devon Bayly-Jones recalled, “This is not something that usually happens. Most clubs usually want full recognition for themselves but I saw this as a means of allowing all of the girls to have a chance at the nationals in the C4 race, which otherwise would not have been possible for them. The priority as I saw it was that the girls have an opportunity to race and be given a chance to go as far as they can.”

With just two short training sessions under their belts the four girls raced under the name of the NBCC, and with a time of 5.31 placed ninth out of 27 crews from all across Canada, landing them a spot in the finals. In the final race the girls beat their earlier time, improving it by 15 seconds and they finished the 1000 meter race with a final time of 5.16, placing them in sixth place overall in the country.

The girls were thrilled. Unfortunately Robyn and Cia's priority race, the C2, was not what they had hoped due to the fact that Robyn was suffering a painful hip injury. That left them almost not able to race in the C2 heats but they still completed it, though their time fell short of qualifying them for the C2 final. This was difficult for the two ladies since their best overall C2 time of the season would have placed them in 5th place if they had repeated it at the Nationals.

That being said, the girls came home knowing that they are definite national contenders in both of next year’s C2 and C4 Juvenile races, and according to coach Bayly-Jones they will also likely compete again next year as part of the NBCC's C4 Juvenile crew. “Because we don't have two girls at our club who can compete at their level it is likely that next year they will train with the North Bay ladies again. I think that next year we stand a good chance of getting a few medals.”

Both Cia and Robyn were thrilled with their C4 results. Robyn said, “The fact that we were just thrown together at the very last minute and had been out in a boat just twice is really quite amazing. It worked out really well and I am really pleased. Cia felt similarly and said, “We all just went out there and did what we were taught and though our teams’ styles are pretty different, we still managed to beat our expectations”

Both ladies are confident that with more time to train together and to learn each other’s styles they will be medal contenders at next year’s Nationals.

The SLCC greatly appreciates the support they receive from the Sydenham and District Lions Club, the Sydenham Legion and the Sydenham Rotary Club.