Sydenham Lake Canoe Club welcomes new members

Helen Parfitt | Dec 08, 2011

Photo: Medal Winner Kayleen Lambert at the Ontario Trillium

The Sydenham Lake Canoe Club will be hosting an Open House AGM on Saturday, Dec. 10 at 2 p.m. at the Sydenham Town Hall. Interested paddlers, ages 8 to adult, will have the opportunity to speak to board members and parent volunteers to learn about the club’s activities. Come try out an ergonometric paddling machine, view a slide show and enjoy some free warm seasonal refreshments.

The Sydenham Lake Canoe Club has been in existence for almost 15 years. It was founded by George Jones, an Olympic qualifying athlete in sprint canoeing and kayaking, with the help of his wife Sue Bayly. They wanted their own children, Devon and Jordon to have the opportunity to paddle competitively close to home. And paddle they did! Devon went on to paddle in the National Division and eventually became the 2011 club’s coach, along with Natasha Ostopovitch, another well known competitive paddler and rower from Sydenham. Both coaches are regarded in paddling circles to be tough, but fair, expecting a standard of excellence rarely seen in Ontario’s smaller clubs.

“Now that the club is on firm ground, we plan to head into the future with a new sense of conviction. In the 2012 season, with strong local support and a solid board of directors, the club intends to become more competitive, expanding its membership to allow more youth and adults to participate in regattas held throughout Ontario and Canada,” says Commodore George Jones. “To present, we have had participation from youth at the provincial and national level, but very little participation from adult Masters Paddlers. The club would like to change that by starting adult and youth competitive training earlier in the season, in mid-May rather than July. This summer, successful competitors will have the opportunity to compete in Provincials in Ottawa and Nationals in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.”

“Paddling has a lot going for it as it is carbon neutral because the paddlers provide the power,” says Roger L’Abbe, the club’s maintenance officer and parent of youth paddlers Genevieve and Sebastien. “There is also little chance of head injury as it is a non-contact individual sport providing many opportunities to achieve personal bests. It is a relatively inexpensive social sport that the whole family can participate in, either on or off the water. I recommend it to any parent as it keeps my children active, and I don’t have to worry about ‘warming the benches’, as sitting in the sunshine by the lakeside watching them compete in regattas is definitely no hardship!”

For more information, please contact Helen Parfitt at 613-376-6613, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..