RHCC NEWS
An Olympic Send-Off
The Richmond Hill Canoe Club was honoured to have our very own Roland Varga back on the waters of Lake Wilcox for a few days before heading off to Tokyo. We took this opportunity to have a proper send-off and to wish him the best of luck at the 2020 Olympic Games.
Special thank you to Deputy Mayor Carmine Perrelli, from the city of Richmond Hill and to Mayor Tom Mrakas from the town of Aurora for joining us on this special day, as well as to Oak Ridges Councillor Greg Beros for joining us virtually.
SUP PARTY!
Have a Special Occasion coming up? Consider a Stand Up Paddle Boarding party!
The Richmond Hill Canoe Club has 8 new adult Stand Up Paddle Boards for individuals 14+ who are interested in having a group lesson led by a certified instructor. Please contact dragonboattraining@rhcc.on.ca for details.
This group celebrated a birthday and reported: “Was such an amazing time!! Al is wonderful and the group had such an incredible experience.”
RHCC Current Trends
Over the past few years, RHCC has grown and changed from being primarily a small sprint canoe/kayak club developing youth athletes to become racers, running a Summer Camp for kids and providing a Dragon Boat rental program, into a club that is more inclusive. It has worked hard to introduce more beginner and recreational programs into our offerings, in response to demand from the growing community.
This has included the creation of in-house Dragon Boat teams to introduce individuals to the sport, expansion of the Adult Introduction to Kayak and Canoe (AI) program and the launch of a new Novice Coached Master group to allow these AI paddlers the ability to further their skills, and the inception of an Introductory Stand Up Paddle boarding program. New kayaks and Stand Up Paddle boards were purchased to support introducing more beginners to these sports.
During summers 2020 and 2021, our Summer Camp was restructured into a Canoe Kids, 2-hour a day program that gives kids a taste of kayaking, canoeing, stand up paddle boarding and generally safe fun on the water. The enthusiastic response from many of these young paddlers lead to the creation of yet another new program called Racing Introduction which offers a next step for those who wish to continue on.
WOD CHAMPIONSHIP in Welland - August 3-4, 2019
A fantastic weekend for all RHCC athletes at the Western Ontario Division Championships.
A special congratulations goes out to our U18 women and our Junior men for bringing home the burgee in their divisions.
Another highlight of the weekend was the return to the waters for the RHCC war canoe. What a sight!
MARSH MASH!
A group of RHCC Masters kicked off the 2019 paddling season on May 18th at the 41st running of the Marsh Mash Canoe and Kayak Race, the 4th oldest Marathon Canoe Race in Ontario!
The race attracts Canoeists, Kayakers, Stand Up Paddleboarders, and Outrigger Paddlers from all over the province and there are a great number of classes as well as a choice of race distances.
The weather was good, the canal (surrounding Holland Marsh) was clear of plants (the race got its name originally from literally having to “mash” one’s way through plants and weeds), and the race was great!
- Andrei Zoubakine finished 6th in the 24km Senior ICF K1 Men’s category
- Andrew Ivanov took 2nd in the 18km Open Kayak field
- Vita Ivanovs, Mark Nemec and Vlad Pankratov all placed 1st in their respective 9km Recreational Kayak or Canoe groupings.
And all left happy having each received a bag onions and carrots and one spring flower from the local farmers for their efforts!
NEW DOCK!
The Richmond Hill Canoe Club has purchased a beautiful new dock this season! As many of our wooden pallets were showing signs of wear and rot, there were only enough suitable ones to create one dock.
After looking at several options, it was determined that a CanDock system would best serve the needs of our club.
Our new dock:
- will not require upkeep
- is very stable
- is safer, as there are no gaps
- is easy to take apart (although it can also be left in over the winter)
- can be easily lengthened or widened should we wish to
- is somewhat self-cleaning with the rain, as it is slightly domed
- is textured for good traction
- will last for many, many years.
A huge thank you to Ram for all his help with the installation and for creating the “bridge” from wood to plastic!
Welcome TO our new Head Coach!
We are happy to welcome Rob Stott as our Head Coach at RHCC.
Rob brings exceptional experience to the club. He has been a National team coach for past 10 years, overseeing the Women’s National Canoe program during a highly successful period, 2014-2017. Prior to that, he coached National Senior Men’s Canoe, U23 Men’s Canoe, and was the Head Coach of the Junior National Canoe/Kayak team (2008-2012). He also has many years of club experience, with over 10 years as Head Coach at Balmy Beach. More recently he has been a professional Strength Coach. He went back to club coaching last summer, re-kindling his passion for grassroots club work. It has been our pleasure to meet Rob over the past month, and we are excited to be able to introduce him to all our members.
Rob is looking forward to working with our athletes.
We are grateful that Andrew Ivanov stepped out and has done a fabulous job coaching our athletes over the winter.
RHCC is at the top of the Winter OCup Series Leader Board
For the second year in a row, Richmond Hill Canoe Club won the Winter OCup 1 – Swim Meet on Sunday, December 9 at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre. Nine clubs from across Ontario participated in the first of two Winter OCup Series events.
Led by teammates Mark Khenkin, John Reid, John & Dominic Muthukumaraswamy, and Catherine Condinho, Richmond Hill finished with 95 points. Balmy Beach was 2nd overall with 79 points; Burloak 3rd with 69 points. Full results can be found here.
The final Winter OCup Series event, Winter OCup 2 – Ski Loppet is scheduled for February 3, 2019 in Gatineau, QC.