Members of Flatwater Yukon added to an already long list of accomplishments set over the summer.
Yukon paddlers won three medals at the Pacific Cup regatta in Maple Ridge, B.C., Sept. 9-10.
“Everybody did their best, had a lot of fun and it was a good end to the season,” said Flatwater Yukon head coach Daniel Girouard.
Yukon’s Julianne Girouard was the only paddler to pocket two medals. The 13-year-old won silver in the U13 women’s K-1 200-metre with a time of 54.2 seconds. She also took fourth place U15 women’s K-1 200-metre at 52.8 seconds.
Julianne and teammate Danni Wilkie-Hobus won silver in the U15 women’s K-2 500-metre with a time of 2:39.4.
Wilkie-Hobus also paddled to eighth in the U13 women’s K-1 200-metre at 54.2 seconds.
Yukon’s Rogan Parry sped to bronze in the U12 men’s K-1 200-metre at 59.1 seconds. The 12-year-old also took seventh in the same event for U14 men.
“Rogan had a goal he set in the spring: he wanted to break the one-minute mark in the 200-metre, which he accomplished,” said Daniel. “There were 56 paddlers in that event, so medaling was a huge thing.”
Parry and Yukon teammates Joel Girouard, Alex Sumner and Liam Diamond placed fifth in the U15 men’s C-4 500-metre at 3:38.6. They also claimed sixth in the U13 men’s C-4 500-metre at 3:21.1.
“The four boys hadn’t really paddled together all season and I just whipped them into a boat and they went out and paddled,” said Daniel.
Wilkie-Hobus and Julianne Girouard, with Yukon teammates Ayla McDonald and Airianna Gibson, placed seventh in the U15 women’s K-4 500-metre at 2:30.3.
Yukon’s Anick Girouard, with paddlers Joseph Woodard, Will Day and Austin Burt from Pemberton, took eighth in the U11 open K-4 200-metre.
Flatwater Yukon sent seven paddlers to the Canada Summer Games this past August in Winnipeg. Emily Crist beat a paddler from Nova Scotia to place seventh in the 5,000-metre K1 race for the highest finish by any Team Yukon athlete in any sport.
Members of FY also won nine medals Westerns Regatta in Calgary in July and 17 medals at the 2017 Canada Day Regatta in Regina, Sask.
The club also had 142 kids participate in the summer camps over a nine-week period and had 16 paddlers in the competitive program, up from five last summer.
Sixteen paddlers raced at the Yukon Flatwater Championships at the end of last month — the first such championships since Flatwater Yukon splintered off from the Yukon Canoe and Kayak Club to become a separate entity at the start of this season.
“I think we had a great season this year. We did attend four different events this year, which was great,” said Daniel. “At the end of the season we had 19 different athletes attend at least one of those events.… Last year we had maybe seven, so that’s a positive thing for us.
“Our club keeps growing and we’re hoping we’ll get more kids involved again next year.”
Though the competitive flatwater season is over, a few members of FY will take part in the Autumn Classic race on the McClintock River this Saturday. The out-and-back race starts at 11 a.m where the Alaska Highway crosses over the river.
Contaxt Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com