SUNDRE – Three members of the local kayak and canoe club made some waves at the 2023 Alberta Summer Games.
Liam McElhinney, Callum Hunter, and Saffire Caron-Ladines, who are no strangers to the Sundre & District Aquaplex where they train with the Sundre Paddling Club, joined the Zone 2 team that included members from the Canmore-based club during the Games that were held July 20-23 in Okotoks and Black Diamond.
The team brought home a bronze in the canoe polo event, while Caron-Ladines also earned gold medals in the 15-17 girls canoe and kayak slaloms as well as the 15-17 girls kayak boater cross.
“As a zone team, we did really well,” said Hunter, from Sundre.
“As a club, I like to think we did really well,” added the 15-year-old who this coming fall will be going into Grade 10 at Sundre High School.
Considering the fact they had never previously competed as a club and that the Games represented Hunter’s first-ever higher level competition, he sounded pleased with the outcome.
“I think we brought home a pretty good haul,” he said, later adding when asked that the experience has left him craving more.
“I’d love to get into more at the competition level,” he said.
“I really like the polo aspect,” he added. “It’s good to be on the team, it helps build confidence; I’ve never been good with talking to other people, but it really helped me branch out. And I’m a fairly competitive guy, so it’s just good to get out with it.”
Hunter said he originally started paddling as a fun hobby that would offer him an opportunity to spend time with his dad.
“We were just trying to find something to do together. We just started doing river runs on the Red Deer; kind of fell in love with the adrenaline from it and started branching out into different parts that we never tried,” he said.
“That’s what keeps me interested, is how much more you can do with it,” he said about learning new technical skills that open up new waterways with more challenging features and currents.
The teen also praised Sundre Paddling Club president and coach Sheldon Valentine, who although unable to personally attend the Games due to work had nevertheless found the time to arrange for the team to participate in a two-day clinic in the days prior to the big competition.
“He was a huge help with getting it all set up; he was a big part in getting the Summer Games together for us,” said Hunter.
Valentine said the clinic with the Calgary Canoe Club was conducted by experts who are more knowledgeable about paddling than himself, including Mike Holroyde from the Alberta Whitewater Association. Although not mandatory, all of the athletes from the zones throughout Alberta had the opportunity to participate in the six different disciplines featured are at the Games.
“We did everything with our zone just to get all the kids kind of in sync,” he said.
Describing as “gung ho” the Sundre club’s young members, he said they’ve all demonstrated a passion for the sport and a desire to learn and improve.
Caron-Ladines, who they’ve nicknamed Fire, boasts plenty of potential, he said.
“She’s got a lot of natural talent, that’s for sure,” he said, adding her rolls were one aspect they’ve focused on improving during practices.
“She’s a pretty good paddler so she doesn’t have to roll a lot. But she was always worried about it, so we worked on her rolling a lot through the winter,” he said, adding she’s since become “a wicked roller” who even without a paddle can turn her kayak upright with just her hands.
Humility also seems to be among her traits, as she told the Albertan when asked about how placing in first felt, “It wasn’t really the gold medal; I’m sort of used to it because I’m usually the only one in my category.”
The 14-year-old from the Harmattan area, who this fall will be starting Grade 10 at Olds High School, modestly added, “I guess having other competition was really nice, and being able to compete against other people.”
Having rarely ever had the chance to play polo, and never before with that team, she relished the chance and was pleased with how they did.
“Performance wise, I’m really proud of how our team did in polo, considering we got bronze and we’ve never played before,” she said, adding it was fun and that she hopes to eventually compete again.
Asked what she most enjoys about paddling and what keeps her passionate about the sport, she said, “Probably the community; everyone in paddling is always so nice. It’s fun to connect with people.”
Her earliest recollections of getting involved in the sport date back some four years when her mom enrolled her in a summer camp in Canmore, where she joined the local club before eventually ending up with the Sundre group.
Valentine said he’s known Hunter for years, and added the lad is a soft-spoken and cautious individual whose mental gears are always turning.
“He’s not a real aggressive paddler, but he’s a very consistent and strong paddler,” the coach said, describing Hunter as a strategist who considers his next move before leaping into action.
“I’m thinking he’s going to be more of a very technical paddler in the few years to come,” he said.
McElhinney, meanwhile, is a go-getter who’s not intimidated by a challenge.
“He’s not shy; he’s very outgoing,” said Valentine, adding the adolescent in his fearless enthusiasm tends to shoot first and ask questions later.
“But he’s done so good on realizing where his weaknesses are, and where his strengths are,” he said.
