The second annual Yukon Championships regatta helped Flatwater Yukon wrap up a stellar freshman season.

“I’m very pleased with how it went,” said head coach Dan Girouard.

For about four years, Girouard has spearheaded the effort to develop flatwater paddling in the territory.

In 2013, the club received four boats from the Manitoba Paddling Club and sent its first-ever team of flatwater paddlers to the Canada Summer Games in Sherbrook, Que.

Jason Zrum and Andrew Crist were coached by Girouard at those Games. Four years later, a team of seven athletes attended, including Crist’s sister Emily.

“It’s nice for athletes in the Yukon to go to something so big and see the level that these young athletes compete at,” she said. “However small we are, we are growing, which is nice.”

The paddling program has existed for a number of years under the auspices of the Yukon Canoe and Kayak Club. This year, the program shifted to Flatwater Yukon, which was officially launched in February 2017.

Girourard said he was very happy with how Team Yukon athletes performed at the Canada Games earlier this month.

“It was an awesome experience for everybody,” he said.

With the development of northern paddling talent, there is a burgeoning interest in the territory from the south.

“Canoe Kayak Canada is very happy that things are happening up here, up north and they’re excited and they want to keep helping us get the momentum going,” said Girouard. “They’re eventually thinking about maybe hosting nationals up here in the next four to six years.”

While the team isn’t quite ready for that to happen, they are looking ahead at planning and getting the needed infrastructure set up.

Among that is a permanent structure for shelter and boat and gear storage.

The flatwater program is currently based out of sea cans in the Schwatka Lake day-use area off Chadburn Lake Road.

Also on the radar is a race course on the lake.

Saturday’s regatta utilized makeshift buoys constructed out of pool noodles. The sheltered bay they currently paddle in only has room for a 500-metre course. The national standard is a 1,000-metre course, said Girouard.

A suitable area for a course that length would be in the bay that the Yukon Breeze Sailing Society hosts their programming in. Girouard said they wouldn’t be competing for the same water and the course could be set up next to the society’s current site.

“A lot of people from down south are excited,” said Crist. “All the teams that we talked to all said that they’d definitely want to come up to Whitehorse to come to nationals.”

While hosting a competition like nationals is years away, Girouard is focused on continuing the development of his athletes.

Saturday’s regatta served as a wrap-up for Flatwater Yukon’s recreational programs, but the competitive group is still in training for their final regatta of the season in Maple Ridge, B.C. on Sept. 9-10.

Danni Wilkie-Hobus, one of the athletes who will be attending that regatta and who also attended the Canada Summer Games, said that she enjoyed the laid-back atmosphere at the Yukon Championships.

“It was all really, really fun,” she said.

Wilkie-Hobus, 13, has been paddling competitively with Girouard for one year.

“I like paddling a lot. I’ve always loved it since I was a little kid and I love being with all the people all the time,” she said. “We spend a lot of time together and I’ve gotten to know all of them a lot and they’ve become my really good friends.”

Next year she plans on switching from kayaking to canoeing, which was recently made an Olympic event for the 2020 Tokyo Games.

“I want to try it,” she said. “I think it’ll be more fun.”

Results

U14 SUP C-1 200m

1. Julianne Girouard
2. Joel Girouard
3. Danni Wilkie-Hobus

U15 SUP C-1 200m

1. Cole Wilkie-Hobus
2. Liam Diamond
3. Alex Sumner

Open K-1 200m
Women

1. Julianne Girouard
2. Kate Mason
3. Airianna Gibson

Men

1. Cole Wilkie-Hobus
2. Joel Girouard
3. Alex Sumner

Open K-1 500m
Women

1. Julianne Girouard
2. Kate Mason
3. Danni Wilkie-Hobus

Men

1. Cole Wilkie-Hobus
2. Alex Sumner
3. Joel Girouard

Masters

1. Jake Paleczny and Karen Mann (C-2)
2. Dan Girouard (C-1)

Open any boat 2K

1. Julianne Girouard (K-1)
2. Bruce Porter and Joel Girouard (K-2)
3. Dan Girouard and Jake Paleczny (C-2)

Open C-4 200m

1. Julianne Girouard, Danni Wilkie-Hobus, Airianna Gibson, Dan Girouard
2. Cole Wilkie-Hobus, Joel Girouard, Bruce Porter, Liam Diamond
3. Kate Mason, Abby (no last name available), Alex Sumner, Veronica Porter

Sibling race 200m

1. Bruce and Veronica Porter
2. Joel and Julianne Girouard
3. Cole and Danni Wilkie-Hobus

Open canoe tug-of-war

1. Cole Wilkie-Hobus, Joel Girouard, Matt (no last name available), Alex Sumner
2. Julianne Girouard, Airianna Gibson, Kate Mason, Danni Wilkie-Hobus, Abby (no last name available), Veronica Porter

Open K-2 200m

1. Joel and Julianne Girouard
2. Kate Mason and Airianna Gibson
3. Bruce and Veronica Porter

Backwards race 200m

1. Cole Wilkie-Hobus
2. Joel and Julianne Girouard
3. Kate Mason and Abby (no last name available)