The Sydenham Lake Canoe Club Wins Gold at Eastern Ontario Regatta

Helen Parfitt | Aug 24, 2022

The Sydenham Lake Canoe Club (SLCC) Sprint Competitive Team had a very successful season this summer. After remote and single boat events in 2020 and 2021, the athletes were thrilled to return to regular live regattas once again. This season, the athletes were able to compete in two and four-person kayaks, known as K2 and K4 as well as two and four-person canoes known as C2 and C4, respectively. It is SLCC’s goal to also compete in the mixed C-15 canoe event next season. The C15 is a slim 30 ft racing canoe, similar to a voyageur canoe, and crewed by 14 athletes and a coach. The club only needs three more competitive athletes to be able to fill the C15 next summer. Interested in trying out this fun water sport and helping to fill the boat? Check SLCC’s website for information on joining our competitive team!

Nine athletes qualified at the Eastern Ontario District regatta for the O-Cup Ontario Championships which were held in Ottawa at the Rideau Canoe Club on August 13-14th. These athletes were U14 paddlers, Honour McQuay and Neala Anger, U12 paddlers, Heidi Neff, Paige Bowes, Carmen Tryon, Declan Anger, and Eirnan McQuay and U10 paddlers, Danica Neff, and Hugo Stephens. In her first season in a sprint canoe, Carmen Tryon received a gold medal in the U12 C1 500 m B Final at O-Cup. She and her fellow teammates, Heidi Neff, Danica Neff and Paige Bowes received silver medals together in the U12 C4 and the K4 500m B Final. Despite having far fewer athletes than most of the larger clubs, the SLCC paddlers did well by having the younger athletes race up in the older age categories to allow the older athletes to compete in team events. U12 athletes, Paige Bowes and Heidi Neff raced up a category with U14 Honour McQuay and Neala Anger and came a respectable 4th in C4 500m B Final. The paddlers were very pleased with their results considering the level of competition. Their success in canoe has inspired the athletes to focus their efforts on improving their canoeing skills during fall training.

Paddling a sprint canoe is no easy feat, requiring excellent strength, balance and steering ability only achievable through persistent training and resilience. There has been a renewed effort to encourage women to take up canoeing following the addition of women’s canoe sprint to the Olympics in 2020. (Men have been allowed to canoe at an Olympic level since 1936!) The Canadian Sprint Canoe Team’s 1st place results at the World Cup in Halifax this August are a reminder that Canadians are excellent sprint canoers, inspiring young paddlers in their wake. The club’s recreational canoe program also had a successful summer allowing children age 5-12 to develop water confidence and basic paddling skills. To this end, the physical club has had many improvements this year thanks to the help of club volunteers and the hard work of Steve Pritchard, who has employed his carpentry skills to build numerous much-needed paddle and boat racks.