Spring is the start of our racing season in sprint canoe and kayak, and our paddlers are taking part in races that they can find in California. We had a U16 athlete take part in the Junior World Team Trials in Chula Vista in April, competing against athletes two to four years older knowing this would be a learning opportunity with little hope of making the team at this early stage in his career. He came back to Ventura with far greater focus and is showing greater intensity and effort in his workouts accordingly — which is great! He will be racing at the Olympic Hopes Regatta Team Trials and Ted Houk Regatta in Seattle the second weekend in June with hopes of qualifying for the OHR.
The club’s coaches were the only athletes to attend the River Town Racers‘ marathon race at Lake Berryessa in the Napa area of Northern California. O
ne could race 10, 20, or 30 kilometers at this race, which included a 150 meter portage in each of the 5K laps. There was a somewhat significant wind on the course, which added a side wake to be navigated on the two shorter legs of the rectangular course. Coach Lynn handled the wakes in her K1 handily, while Coach Drew felt the odds of having to navigate a swim to shore in the wind 500 meters or more from shore to be quite high. Drew decided one lap was enough, while Lynn did all four in her 20k effort. Lynn will compete in the California River Quest race in Redding next weekend, and one of our first year U16 paddlers will go to Newport Beach for a “fun race” at the Newport Aquatic Center.
The club’s Board President has worked hard to expand our social media footprint, making many posts showing our members in action and having fun. We hope that this will help us add more youth to our recruiting efforts for this summer when we have two different “camps” planned with one in June and the other in August. If you know of any youth 11 to 16 who might be interested, please send them our way!
