Another Year to Remember
Last year the paddling season didn’t start too well for me but it finished okay. At the end of the 2018 paddling season I was on top of the world, well not really but I was the over 65 Australian Marathon Champion in K1 and K2 and was selected to go to the World Masters Championships in Portugal but three weeks later I was told I had prostate cancer which
shattered my plans and caused a little bit of a setback. What no more paddling! Am I about to die!
So the World Masters were put on hold and I finished up having an operation to take out my prostate at the same time as the World Masters were on. With the operation I couldn’t paddle but at least I wasn’t going to die. Not this year at least.
Then came two months of total rest, although I was able to volunteer to be the timer at the Sandy Beach Saturday races and help out with the marathon races. In December I was able to paddle cautiously to gather some fitness and I was able to run a Tuesday night beginners course at Ascot. At least I was back on the water.
In January I ran my usual Down River Course around buoys on Friday mornings which I have organised for several years now and at the same time I started the ‘Progressive Racing Group’ which met on Tuesday, and Thursday evenings and some Saturdays at Ascot. This training course was to help new and social paddlers to get into racing at a novice level. Many of
those members have excelled and are now beyond the intermediate group.
Also in January I took part in my first race since my operation, the WA 10km Championships in which I came second, 1 min 56 behind Ron Clarke which I thought wasn’t too bad as Ron was the fastest 65 plus paddler at that time so my return to competitive paddling was finally getting back on track.
I was getting better as the weeks went by and still beating paddlers half my age.
I took part in the WA Sprint Championships and won medals in K1-65, 200, 500, 1000m and C1 200 and 500m. I also won medals in the Australian Sprint Championships in the K1 65 - 200, 500 and 1000 metres and in K2.
By the time the Marathon Championships came around 25 paddlers from my Progressive Racing Group took part in the novice race which was introduced in the championships. I also helped out at the champs and provided over 80 boat racks for competitors to use.
I won medals at the WA Marathon Championships and at the Australian Marathon Championships but I hadn’t managed to beat Ron since my operation. However being in the top 3, I was selected to go to the World Masters Championships in China.
To finish the paddling year off I planned, led and paddled 1100 kilometres along the west coast of Canada from Vancouver to Prince Rupert with John Breed and Luke Dooley, paddling 35 kilogram kayaks with up to 85 kilograms of gear inside. Although I have paddled longer expeditions, this expedition proved to me that I still had a lot of life left in me.
Four weeks later I was off to the World Masters in China and came 3rd in the 65 division, 1.6 seconds behind 2nd place and this time I did beat Ron. Yippee!!
