We spotted our first real Australian wildlife today. It was a half day again so we drove up into the Blue Mountains and went for a little walk down to the Jelly-Bean pool. During our trip we saw a snake slither across the path, tail of some poor lizard sticking out of its greedy little mouth. Once at the pool we saw across to sun bathe on the enormous boulder. That rock was also home to possibly the...

“Everything here will kill you,” says Paul Manning-Hunter as he studies a small spider on the side-walk. I can’t help but think that this may be true. Yesterday morning I was in the bathroom, still a bit groggy after waking up and I see these tiny, wriggling antennae in my peripheral. I turn my head slowly to the right and realize that, eewwww, it’s a cockroach. I grab the dustpan and smack...

We had our first half day off on Wednesday and the vote was unanimously in favour of the beach. Mike chose “Dee Why” and we soaked up some rays and played in the waves. Any passersby could tell that we were tourists. Our beacon white skin gave us all away. We enjoyed, mmm, endured our hottest day yet, 37 C, that’s without humidity. Our kind coaches had us doing loops in the afternoon heat. Luckily...

This year for our winter training camp we decided to go to Australia: good whitewater, warm water and weather, and sun. So far our camp has been going well. I arrived on the 7th with Graham, AJ, and Paul. We met the rest of the group at our home base at the Nepean River Cabins. We have two trailers adjoined by a porch full of crisscrossing lines full of stinky paddling gear. The temperature here never...

It has often been said in sport that recovery is equally important to the actual working hard part of training. So after a gruelling winter training camp in Canmore I boarded a plane to Cuba with my mom and grandma for some tropical r and r. We arrived in Cuba at the smallest airport I have ever encountered; one terminal, one plane at a time. The sole purpose of this airport was to bring in and bring...

This past week I was at a training camp in Ottawa, ON with the national head coach Michal and the regional coach James. The majority of athletes attending the camp were local, but Hayden, AJ, and I represented Alberta. The water levels at the Pumphouse were awkward. Not low enough but not high enough either. We were without water for only one day. As we boarded the plane in Calgary we left behind the...

The world freestyle championships wrapped up this weekend in Thun, Switzerland with top competitors from all over the World in attendance. Canadian Nick Troutman won the K1M category, beating the former world champion, Eric Jackson and setting a new high point record.  Emily Jackson took the K1W gold beating the former canadian world champion Ruth Gordon. The full list of results and video from the...

A couple of days ago, one of my old friends succeeded in one of her long time goals of swimming the English channel. After her swim being postponed day after day due to weather and current issues, she was able to start her swim on September 6th at 130am. She swam through the night stopping only to rehydrate and refuel. 12 hours later, she found herself in France. Allison is the second youngest Canadian...

The Pan American Championships brought slalom kayaking’s top athletes to the Kananaskis River. The competition was fierce and after 3 days of competition, we had new Pan Am champions. In the K1W category, Jessica Groenveld, in K1 David Ford, in C1 James Cartwright, in C2 Ben Hayward and Cam Smedley, and in C1W Cindy Audet. A true Canadian sweep. Our new female national champion in junior and in...

Sturgeon Falls The drive to Valleyfield was a quiet one. After a couple of weeks on the road, everyone is pretty tired. We arrived and set up our camp in the field of the high school. The B.C.E group arrived and what seemed like a pretty big green space soon shrunk. The Valleyfield training week went by pretty quickly and before we knew it we were racing. Unfortunately I got pretty sick during the...