Local paddlers Luanda and Mael Pronovost left their mark on the national whitewater championships that ended Monday in Kananaskis, Alta.

Mael has qualified to represent Canada next summer at the world freestyle championships in Spain and Luanda has put herself in the running.

In an interview Thursday after returning to Whitehorse, the 17-year-old Mael told the Star the national championships were fun, but intense.

“It was really good,” he said. “It’s always pretty intense because people are pretty serious. There’s not much socializing because people are really serious about the races.”

“It went really well, and it was lots of fun,” said 14-year-old Luanda. “They are quite competitive.”

Mael qualified for the national team after finishing with a bronze in the junior C-1 freestyle event.

In his four kayak and canoe events – class downriver, sprint downriver, slalom and freestyle – Mael won seven medals – six bronze and a silver.

In her four events, Luanda won eight medals – two gold, three silver and three bronze.

One of her silvers was in the K-1 freestyle event.

The brother and sister team shared three medals paddling their canoe together: a bronze in the C-2 classic downriver; a silver in the sprint downriver and a bronze in the C-2 slalom event.

“We did really good actually,” said Luanda.