All posts by leanne

Survive the Triangle? No, it was conquered!

June 21, 2015Coaching, Diabetes, Racingleanne

This weekend was my first weekend of racing in 2015. A little later in the year than normal but I’m following my plan to lead me to the World Outrigger Sprints next May.

Kelowna Paddle Centre had a number of paddlers competing this weekend. Three boats were in the first race at 9:30am on Saturday: an open mixed crew and novice mixed crew in the 10km short course along with our Women’s crew which I had the privilege of paddling with. The KPC mixed crew kept us honest for the first 10km and after they finished we went for the second lap. It ended up a couple minutes slower than the first and a stronger headwind but overall, we were happy with the race. The girls are strong and had more in the tank if it was needed but second place was almost 14 minutes behind our 1 hour 46 minute time for the 20km. I was thankful for my Vitargo during the race (raced with grape mixed with unflavoured this time) as my blood sugars started at 9.7 and finished at 4.5. Shortly after we got out of the boat and took it back up to the trailer, I had my Vitargo Post in hand. The open mixed, novice and men’s crews all won their races as well.

I was so proud during the awards dinner to see my husband up getting an award for being part of the winning novice crew in his first race. I was also stoked to see so many of my clinic participants up receiving crew awards as well. It was nice being able to see them on the water doing a lot of the things we talked about at the clinic!

Today was the small boat event. Once again KPC was well represented. With a mass start, I had the opportunity to start against the men’s OC1 and OC2s. I had a great start, hitting a max speed of 13.9km/hr. I’m looking forward to seeing the drone footage of it. I had lots of space after the first few strokes and stayed on the gas for the first couple kilometers. I have to admit, I was feeling Saturday’s 20km for the first half but about km 6 I started to feel good and was able to lengthen my stroke, rotate more and use more effective leg drive. I could hear a few boats behind me and there was no way I was going to let them catch up. I finished as the first woman across the line but also placed 2nd overall in the OC1. When I checked out my Dexcom graph, blood sugars spiked a bit after the beginning of the race but came right back down by the end. Once again, after my boat was up on the grass I had my Vitargo Post as I know that tomorrow’s 6am workout will come pretty quick and I know that without Post, I’d be sluggish and going through the motions instead of being able to push and get the most of the training session.

Thank you to the organizers for their time and efforts in putting on the event.
And of course thank you to my husband, sponsors and supporters for continuing to believe in me and keep my dream alive. Vitargo, Vynna, Animas, Okanagan Peak Performance, Wave Physiotherapy.

Kalamalka Classic – You gotta paddle here!

September 1, 2014Diabetes, Racingleanne

If you have never experienced the Kal Classic SUP Festival then you need to put it on your calendars right now for next Labour Day weekend. Kevin, Mel, Allan and the rest of the crew at Kalavida Surf Shop put on one heck of an event. There’s something for everyone from your World Champion (like Lina Augaitis), to your weekend warrior, to your 4 year old child and everyone in between. It was great to catch up with paddlers that I’ve met over the past two seasons and hang out.
This year did not disappoint with mother nature even coming to the party on Saturday with a mess of wind for the Wiki Holo Finals! But she failed to give us that kind of wind for the 16km down Kal Lake on Sunday.

I finished third over the weekend behind World Champ Lina Augaitis and amazing paddler Shannon Bell (who also has had great showing at the 2013 ISA Worlds). It’s a privilege to be able to line up with these two along with the other fantastic women that were there this weekend.
I had a rough start to the Wiki Holo technical course heat. Thank goodness it was two laps! I was 6th off the start and managed to make it up to fourth by the end of the first lap and third by the second buoy of the second lap and held on. I was stoked with my pivot turns!

The finals was just one lap but worth double the points! The competitive women got to watch the rec classes and competitive men battle the waves on the course before we got our turn. Instead of pivot turns that went beautifully in my heat, I tried to play it safe with cross bows. Well, after 3 or 4 swims I was thankful that I’m strong in a headwind as that’s where i was able to make up a lot of ground to battle for third again.

It was so close we didn't know who was 3rd or 4th — It was so close we didn’t know who was 3rd or 4th

The relay races to end the day lead to a Naish One Inflatable SUP being awarded. Absolute blast with my team!

Sunday morning saw 100+ paddlers going down the length of Kal Lake. With a little headwind and Debbie on my tail for the first half, I knew I had to stay strong. I never looked back to see when I dropped Debbie off my wash but I knew I couldn’t hear her anymore. I also knew that if I let up that she would be working her way right back up there! Thank goodness for my hydration pack filled with Vitargo. I wasn’t thirsty per se but I knew I needed the fuel to keep going that hard. It did not disappoint, I didn’t cramp, I didn’t bonk, I was able to keep pulling even after I could feel the blisters on my fingers break open. My official time was 2:02:01 on my 12’6 Bark Competitor. Not to shabby considering last year I was 1:57:18 on my 14′ Think XoR with no headwind.

One more race and then my season is complete. What a year it’s been for my “year off, just paddling for fun and not training.”

Thanks to Mark Klein, Neil Gibson and Dorine Berube for taking such great photos!

“Why Not?!” once again leads me into the Unknown

August 24, 2014Diabetes, Kelowna Paddle Centre, Racingleanne

I’ve had this idea in the back of my mind since the event was announced earlier this year. I toyed with going. Not really sure if I was going to get in over my head with the conditions. But it didn’t take much of a nudge to put me over the edge and sign up just before the registration deadline for the first ever Canadian Surfski Championships.

I’ve raced the course on an outrigger a few times so I was familiar with the cold water and the potential wave size, I figured that I’ve learned a lot about wave riding since the last time I did the course 4 years ago. I had the chance to play in some big waves here on Lake Okanagan and was comfortable. So …. Why Not?!

And what a blast! Lining up with the biggest names in the surfski world! Wow!

The biggest names in the surfski world were here ... talk about star struck! — The biggest names in the surfski world were here … talk about star struck!

I had no expectations for my performance. I just wanted to go out there, have fun and see what I could do in my first real surfski race. It didn’t take long for the competitive juices to kick in. I played it safe off the start but then I started to pick targets to catch and pass one by one. There was a little bit of wave play but nothing that was fast enough to ride for any length of time. I was moving faster than the waves 🙁

I felt good crossing the line, I had about 250ml of my Vitargo left in my hydration pack and hadn’t touched any of my gels. 20.5km in 1:46 crossing as the fifth female but first Canadian Woman. It was a big surprise for me at the awards ceremony to find out that there was money awarded for the Top Canadian Woman. Even bigger surprise was the giant novelty cheque!

Totally caught off guard that there was a prize for Top Canadian Woman!

Vancouver SUP Challenge

August 17, 2014Diabetes, Racingleanne

And this year was about redemption at this race. I didn’t fare so well last year, I swam a lot so I’m proud to say that not only did I stay dry this time but I also felt a lot better during my races than I have in recent memory. I started a new supplement after last weekend’s Outrigger Nationals called Vitargo and with the guidance of Dr. Susan and team we are going to see what happens to my training, my performance and especially with my Type 1 Diabetes by increasing my carbohydrate intake. I love Science! 🙂

Anyways, after roadtripping to Van in a van with Gypsy and Matt, I got to catch up with amazing people that I met at this race last year and also met some new folk that I’m super stoked will be in Vernon in a couple weeks.

Racing wise, I was 2nd all round. In the 5km 14′ race. In the 3km (which thanks to the superbuoy was actually 3.6km) 12’6′ race. In the sprint race. And 2nd in the relay race as well with my wicked team of Peter and David. I played it safe with my buoy turns this weekend since they burned me here last year and it paid off. I was able to set up wide and cut inside on the end of turns and stay away from a lot of the carnage that was going on.

Another super fun day on the water! Thanks to Lech Dolecki for the amazing photos of the event that are posted here.

Last year we were third, this year second ... next year we win! — Last year we were third, this year second … next year we win!

Canadian National Outrigger Champion

August 13, 2014Coaching, Kelowna Paddle Centre, Racingleanne

This past weekend was the Howe Sound Iron Outrigger Race which served as the Canadian Outrigger National Championships in beautiful Gibsons, BC.

Saturday was the OC6 (6 person outrigger canoe) race. It was listed as a 26km course but thanks to my team’s amazing steersperson, Christine, our route was only 23km. It was an exciting race right from the start! There was an island about 250m from the start that all teams had to turn around before starting their journey up the shoreline. With 14 boats on the line, we knew things would be tight coming into that turn but we were not expecting to be cut off by an experienced crew beside us as they were pinched as well. Our Kelowna boat stopped in order to prevent the boat that cut us off from going into the rocks and also running into two other boats. This meant that we had to restart after the team ahead got straightened out and out of our way. From here we had to play catch up. We knew that we had a lot of distance ahead and stuck to what we’re good at … making every stroke count.

First we passed my former club from Toronto, Wai Nui before making our way past the Comox women. That left three boats ahead of us. Following the buoy turn at the 6km mark we managed to pull in the False Creek women and make the pass. We spent the rest of the race chasing down Gorge from Victoria (team that we had to stop for). Words can’t even express how proud I am of my Kelowna teammates for digging deep and coming within 5 seconds in a 2 hour 10 minute race. We were 32 seconds behind the first place crew for a third place finish.

Receiving our awards for 3rd at Nationals

Sunday’s small boat race was exciting on so many levels. My good friend Ron let me use his Ehukai which is the same boat that I’ll be getting next month. Lolo Wiki (Crazy Fast) did not disappoint! Though she did throw me into the ocean twice during the race, I still managed to reel in a lot of paddlers to the point where there was only one other OC1 ahead of me. I almost had him before the second swim but alas, I was the top woman.

Winning the Pulling Water Smallboat Challenge, aka Nationals!

The Stanley Edge

Competence, Confidence and Fun