The canoe and kayak competition at the Estevan 2016 Saskatchewan Summer Games will feature non-stop action at Woodlawn Regional Park’s Boundary Dam from July 28 to 30.
“We have three full days of racing,” said Canoe Kayak Saskatchewan executive director Kia Schollar. “Our athletes are going to compete in single and two-person kayak and canoe events then there are also some larger team events, which we call the relay. So, there is lots of opportunity for all of those athletes that will be coming to Estevan.”
The nine district teams, which will include eight male and eight female competitors, will begin each day with heat races for the one- and two-person kayak 200-metre, 1,000m and 4,000m meets, the two-athlete canoe 200m, 1,000m and 4,000m races and the four-person 200m relay race. These meets will be followed with finals races at various times throughout the day with the winning athletes being presented with their medals that evening.
Schollar said the relay event is structured somewhat like a 4x100m relay in track and field. She said four of each team’s athletes will participate in the meet with two competitors lining up on opposite ends of the 200m course and as one person crosses the line the next person goes until all four have raced their 200m leg of the race.
“It’s raced internationally in sprint canoeing and kayaking and it’s raced at the world championships,” said Schollar about the relay, which is making its first appearance this summer as a Saskatchewan Summer Games event. “It’s something that nationally we’re looking to bring to Canada. It’s a neat event to get people interested and get people cheering. It’s fast and it gets lots of people involved at the same time.”
Alyssa Trombley, coach of Team South East, said their athletes will be competing in a minimum of five and a maximum of eight races at the Games. She said until that time, the team will keep busy practising at Nickle Lake.
"Until they finish school, it will just be after-school practices twice a week," said Trombley. "Then starting in July we'll practise Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday mornings and they'll just come out and we'll practise different skills in canoes and kayaks."
Schollar said the preliminary work needed to stage the canoe and kayak competition in Estevan is fairly intensive in terms of putting the course together, but setting up Boundary Dam for the influx of athletes does not involve any major construction. She said the course will employ 1,000 metres of buoys that will be set up in the weeks prior to the event with the temporary out-of-water equipment in terms of tents and necessities for the athletes and officials being put in place closer to the race dates.
There are over 1,200 members and 11 active clubs with Canoe Kayak Saskatchewan, but the goal is always to continue to grow the sport. Schollar said the hope is a good showing at the Estevan 2016 Saskatchewan Summer Games will go a long way in helping them reach that goal.
“It gives us an opportunity to get into all the districts where we don’t normally have regular programming,” she said. “We’re able to meet people and volunteers and kids looking to be active and give them an opportunity to try something new and potentially fall in love with our sport.”
