Whitehorse Daily Star

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BIG THINGS AHEAD – Yukon paddler Pelly Vincent-Braun is hoping a strong performance at nationals can propel him onto the junior national slalom team.

Whitewater paddler eyes position with national teams

Today marks the beginning of a big week for young Yukon paddler Pelly Vincent-Braun.

By Whitehorse Star on August 26, 2014

Today marks the beginning of a big week for young Yukon paddler Pelly Vincent-Braun.

Starting today, he and fellow Whitehorse paddler Mael Pronovost will enter competition in the national slalom championships at the Madawaska Kanu Centre in Barry’s Bay, Ont., west of Ottawa.

The stakes are higher for 15-year-old Vincent-Braun, who is aiming to crack two national team rosters this week.

During the four-day event in Barry’s Bay, Vincent-Braun will compete in the junior C-1 and C-2 downriver and slalom races with hopes of earning a position with Canada’s junior national slalom team.

That team will compete at the junior world championships in Brazil in April of 2015.

Following the national championships, Vincent-Braun will compete in a Canada Cup freestyle event on the Ottawa River with some of the country’s top paddlers Aug. 30 and 31.

There, he will look to impress in the men’s C-1 and open canoe categories with the goal of making the national freestyle team.

Meanwhile, Pronovost is working out of the cadet kayak divisions of downriver and slalom.

Pronovost, 13, is the first Yukoner to compete in the kayak slalom events, according to Trevor Braun of the Yukon Canoe and Kayak Club.

The two young paddlers attended the Minden Hills open slalom event over the weekend.

Held on the Gull River in Minden, Ont., the slalom course is regarded as the most challenging courses in Canada.

Vincent-Braun advanced to the semifinal with a seventh-place finish on Saturday. In the semifinal, the Yukoner found himself backwards in a rock sieve – causing him to miss two of the 19 gates.

However, when his rival missed four of the gates – an infraction of 50 seconds per miss – a surprised Vincent-Braun found himself in the final.

There, he made each of the gates, touching only four at a penalty of two seconds per touch. He would finish sixth overall in a time of 1:32, good for second in the junior C-1 category.

While Pronovost attended the event, he decided not to race the intimidating course.

Vincent-Braun also competed in the Montreal en Eau-Vive freestyle event earlier this month, where he finished as the top-ranked C-1 paddler.

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