The Yorkton Canoe & Kayak Club is back in the water for the 2021 season, and already in competition.
Lily Whitney (9), Nathan Whitney (11), Stephan Roy (13), Ewen Hutzul (15) from the Yorkton Canoe Kayak competed June 13 in Regina. This one-day competition hosted paddlers from Regina and Saskatoon.
鈥淚t was a different regatta than we are used to, due to covid rules and regulations,鈥� Head Coach Jessica Riley said, 鈥渂ut we were just so excited to be doing any sort of competition that you just adapt and in our case, conquer鈥�.
Nathan Whitney started off his 2nd year of paddling with wins in all three of his events: U12 Men鈥檚 K1 1000m, U12 Men鈥檚 K1 500m, and U12 Men鈥檚 K1 200m. N. Whitney maintained a solid lead throughout his events and finished strong against the eleven other Regina and Saskatoon competitors.
Stephan Roy, a seasoned competitor at only 13 years of age, won each of his events in the U14 category. He then raced up two categories in the U18 Men鈥檚 K1 6000m event where he placed 9th overall.
Ewen Hutzul celebrated his return to competition after not competing last season with solid finishes in his events.听 He raced up an age category and placed 11th in his U18 Men鈥檚 K1 1000m event, 10th in the U18 Men鈥檚 K1 200m, and 11th in the U18 Men鈥檚 K1 500m.听 He finished his day of racing with a 12th place finish in his 6000m event.
Lily Whitney had a tremendous day of racing with Regina鈥檚 competition being her second away-regatta to ever attend.听 L. Whitney began her day with a U10 1000m event which she dominated with a lead of over 200m (approximately 2 minutes) over the Regina competitors. In the spirit of sport, she agreed to race up a full age category to compete instead against 10-12 year olds in the U12 event.听 At only 9 years of age, she placed 2nd in her U12 500m event, missing 1st place by only a few seconds. In her U12 200m event, L.Whitney had a fantastic start and lead against the 11 other competitors but lost precious seconds when her boat collided with a goose.听 She recovered quickly and had a fantastic finish placing 3rd.
鈥淭hese paddlers work hard at every practice and it鈥檚 awesome for them to see their hard work come to fruition,鈥� Coach Riley says, 鈥淚鈥檓 incredibly proud of our athletes and I can鈥檛 wait to see what else we can accomplish this season!鈥�
The racing program is currently practicing after school and is always looking to recruit new paddlers to join their team (competitive or non-competitive).听 Sprint kayaking is an Olympic sport and is also an excellent cross training activity.听
YCKC is now open to the public in the evenings, Monday - Friday from 6-8pm. CanoeKids (day camps running throughout the summer) will begin July 5th. Toonie Sundays (Sundays, from 2-4pm) have also begun.听 For more information about YCKC programming or how to sign up for programs or paddling sessions, please visit or on Facebook:
听
