A few months ago the Peak reported on the success enjoyed by Powell River Outrigger Canoe Society (PROCS) in the National Sprint Championships held in Victoria, where members won gold in the Senior Masters Men’s event, and silver and bronze respectively in the Mixed and Women’s events. Now the club can claim bragging rights to an even more significant prize: the Senior Masters Mixed title.
The society attended the National Outrigger Distance Championship in Vancouver Saturday, July 11, hosted by False Creek Paddling Club. In addition to the championship itself, the Powell River crew secured the CORA Cup, awarded annually by the Canadian Outrigger Racing Association (CORA) in each competitive category to the club with the best cumulative record in the five races making up the CORA Cup series.
The first four races of the series each had a different winner in the Senior Masters Mixed category, but Powell River went into the final race of the season in lead position, due to not only winning in the Island Iron race in Comox last month, but also placing second in the Jericho Beach, Vancouver, race in May.
The category involves three men and three women to a boat, all over the age of 50 years. The final race was a 23-kilometre marathon effort starting and finishing at Jericho Beach, and the conditions last Saturday were described by the paddlers as “brutal.” As it turned out, the Powell River crew was the only Senior Masters Mixed crew to brave the conditions, and so it won its category by default. However, it also beat all of the crews in the Masters category, along with several of the Open category, finishing sixth overall in the race. This achievement would be even more notable in that the Masters category is open to paddlers as young as 40 years, whereas the average age of the Powell River boat crew is 63.
Although the intensity of the CORA Cup series is now successfully concluded, the club’s ambitions have not ended: several of the paddlers have serious hopes of winning selection to the Canadian team that will be travelling to Australia May 2016 for the World Outrigger Sprint Championships. The Canadian trials take place in October, so the summer will be spent making the transition from a 23-kilometre race to the 500-metre format.
PROCS hopes to build on its success by attracting more (and younger) members to its mix of competitive and recreational paddlers. The Powell River community was given a taste of outrigger sprint racing last year in the Corporate Challenge held at Sea Fair. This year a demonstration race is planned that will match three very different paddling cultural traditions against each other: an outrigger canoe (originating in the Pacific Islands), a Dragon Boat (China) and a Tla’amin (Sliammon) First Nation traditional canoe.
Watchers from dry land may also be treated to a demonstration race in one-person outrigger canoes, possibly with a compulsory capsize along the course to make it even more entertaining for the spectators. If so, the Sea Fair crowd will be able to enjoy the spectacle of National Sprint and Distance champion paddlers falling out of their boats, definitely something not to miss.
