The stage is now set for redemption.

On Sunday, 10 ladies from the Kelowna Paddle Centre (KPC) travelled to the Canadian Outrigger Racing Association’s National Team Time Trials to see how they stacked up against the rest of the country and qualify for World Sprints in Australia May 2016.  It was a beautiful day with sun shining and blue sky.

The V1 races were up first for the women and OC1 for the guys.  I felt good going into the day. It was great to see all kinds of friends as people warmed up and were getting ready for their heats. I mistimed my warm-up so didn’t quite get as much as I had planned on but once I hit the water it was game time. I was relaxed but focused. I knew that the boats for the trials were easier to steer than ours at KPC.

Going into this weekend I knew that my biggest competition was going to be the clock. Early this year I set some goal times that I wanted to achieve.  Coming down the course I felt fast, strong but didn’t even notice how close the finish was and missed part of my race plan.  Clocked in with a 2:30.18, second fastest V1 time of the day (only beaten by a guy).

I had the chance to cheer on the rest of my KPC girls before paddling again in the OC1. I think I had more fun cheering them on then I did my own paddling! With hitting my goal time in the V1 I was ready to lay it down on the OC1. I knew that I’d have company at the front as our KPC manager and former National Team Marathon K1 paddler Tamlyn Bohm was in my heat. The cockpit C-Lions were uncomfortable with inconsistent steering but I paddled the race according to my race plan and even had some fun opening the throttle for  a sprint into the finish line for a time of 2:33.17.

Overall the Kelowna women dominated! Open women – KPC ladies were 6 of the top 7 times and only 2 of us were actually open age!  Masters women – KPC had 7 of the top 11. And our Senior Masters gals made up 3 of the top 6. I can’t begin to express how proud I am of every single one of these girls. They worked hard, put in the time on the water and it paid off!  Now they have benchmarks and the experience to take into the trials for Tahiti 2018.

As for me, it’s time to find some funding to help with my expenses for Australia 2016. If you can help a girl reach her dream of being the fastest paddler in the world, contact me 🙂

What a day for Kelowna Paddle Centre, with 42 paddlers and lots of family and friends there to cheer and support! All crews raced hard, challenged themselves and for many, conquered their first race!
I am so proud of how each of the Kelowna Girls crew! They stepped up to the challenge. Some of these gals are seasoned race veterans and for a couple this was their longest race yet.
An aggressive pace was set right from the start and we maintained contact with the strong Kelowna Master’s crew throughout the race. At 7km we were about 1:30 behind and came across the line (16.5km) just 2:36 behind. Each of gals dug deep, I could see, feel (and hear) the effort that they were putting in every time I called a push. These girls are hungry for more racing, I love it!

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.

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.