Former Sydenham Lake paddler hopes to qualify for junior world championships

Sydenham Lake Canoe Club | Jun 10, 2015

Sprint Kayaker, Genevieve L’Abbe is training hard these days to compete in the National Team Trials in Montreal June 18-20. This 17-year-old former Sydenham Lake Canoe Club paddler will be up against kayakers from across Canada, battling for the opportunity to compete in the ICF Canoe Sprint Junior & U23 World Championships Regatta in Montemor-O-Velho, Portugal on July 24-26.

A Sydenham resident, L’Abbe now paddles in the national capital region for Ottawa River Canoe Club. “When my Sydenham coach realized three years ago that there weren’t any female paddlers in the Sydenham Club in my division, she told me that I would have to go elsewhere to find the team boat training crew that I needed”, says L’Abbe. That summer, Genevieve was invited to paddle for the larger Ottawa River Canoe Club. They offered her a place to stay and three team mates, so she has been paddling with the club ever since.

Now a member of the Ontario and National Junior Team, only her family and coach (and perhaps her neglected friends!) know how hard she has worked to improve her power and stroke rate to make it to this level of competition.

Though L’Abbe was used to training twice a day, for the past two months, she has been training more intensively. As a Gr. 12 student, the additional training on top of her busy school schedule is difficult. “I fall asleep at every opportunity even in class sometimes” says L’Abbe. Her teachers have sometimes been known to let her sleep. School will soon be over for Genevieve with the Montreal National Team Trials 200 and 500m regatta looming just close ahead. She says, “I know who my competitors are, and I know that I will have to have a good start and maintain my maximum stroke rate throughout in order to gain one of the four coveted spots on the Junior World Team. It is a goal that I would like to achieve as I have never competed at an international regatta overseas, but I know if I don’t make it, I will still have a bit of a rest and a whole summer of paddling on the lake to look forward to.”