Sydenham Lake Canoe Club

Jul 03, 2024

Another paddling season is well underway at the Sydenham Lake Canoe Club. You may have seen some of these hardworking athletes and coaches out on the water this spring on their training sessions before school and in the late afternoon.

SLCC working with our We Paddle grant from Canoe Kayak Canada is offering a bursary program, providing 96 day camp spaces at no cost to families meeting the bursary criteria. Space is still available in this program and we encourage all children ages 7 to 16 to come out and try paddling.

Tired of being inside at the rink, paddling may just be what your young athletes are looking for this summer as the sport offers excellent core, and upper body strengthening and cardio training in the summer sunshine and nature. SLCC has added an intro to sprint canoe and kayaking for ages 9 and up, to learn and train in the sprint racing boats. This program also includes an option to try out a regatta and cheer on your teammates.

For those participants preferring the social and nature enjoyment aspects of paddling, SLCC is offering recreational programs for adults in the evenings during the week. Check out our website for more information and watch for our signs leading the way to the club along the Cataraqui Trail behind Foodland in Sydenham.

A big thank-you to the S & A Club in Harrowsmith for their generous grant support, which has allowed SLCC to add a new sprint canoe to the club's fleet. The canoe arrived this June to much excitement.

For 15 years the commodore of the club has been Helen Parfitt, her tireless efforts have led this community's summer camps and programs which have been a tradition of families in the area. Part of her love and support for the club stems from the ongoing development of the participants as they grow from youngsters exploring the recreational camp for the first time, learning canoeing, kayaking and the enjoyment for nature and the great out of doors, through competitive training and regattas and as paddlers returning to work as recreational camp counselors and coaches and spread the enjoyment of paddling to summer day campers each year. In the fall of 2023 Helen announced she was stepping down from the commodore position. A new board of directors was elected in late fall and with on-going guidance from Helen as past director, and continued support of the community, we are excited to continue on the tradition of the Sydenham Lake Canoe Club as well as grow to offer more programming to connect with community members.