Obscure Water Sports

My introduction to marathon canoe racing came by accident.

My brother Seth and I had done a lot of canoeing when we were younger. Our parents owned a summer house on a lake and we often went on long paddles around the lake. In high school, we expanded our adventures and took annual 10-day trips to Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario with a church group. After high school, we made a few more trips on our own. We felt we were pretty good paddlers.

All that would change a few years later when Seth suggested that we enter a local canoe race - the Run of the Charles. As we waited at the starting line, a few canoes from a longer race came flying by. These were the strangest looking canoes we had ever seen. They sat low in the water and were built for speed. When our race started, we were astonished at the intensity of the other paddlers. Even though we hadn't expected to, we also paddled hard and wound up in fourth place. We were hooked.

The next year we raced again and finished first in our category. Brimming with confidence, we decided to participate in the 70-mile General Clinton Canoe Regatta. About a third of the way through this race, a kind paddler explained that we had no clue what we were doing. I seem to recall him saying, "You'll never finish if you keep paddling like that." He gave us a quick tutorial and was on his way. We did finish that race, as we have every year since.

We race a lot more now and we race in those strange-looking racing canoes. We've won some races, but mostly we've been humbled by the skill of more experienced paddlers. Nonetheless, we've had fun doing it.