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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Paddlers honour local legend
Two canoeists paddle under the shadow of the Esplanade Riel on the Red River Saturday. Two dozen kayakers and canoeists paddled the river to Kildonan Park in honour of local long-distance canoeist Don Starkell, who died in January. (MELISSA TAIT / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store
It wasn't quite as exotic as the Amazon River or the Northwest Passage, but dozens of paddlers took to the Red River Saturday to remember one of Canada's legendary adventurers.
Don Starkell, an author and expert long-distance canoeist, died in January from cancer, but not before floating the idea of a summertime boat trip down the Red for his friends and family.
"My dad was just a simple person," said son Dana Starkell. "He would get up every morning and go paddling in the river."
What started as a paddleboat tour slated for today snowballed into Saturday's flotilla, which saw about 30 kayaks and canoes, including a large voyageur-style canoe paddled by kids from the North End YMCA-YWCA, set off from The Forks and arrive just after lunch at Kildonan Park for a picnic.
Among the flotilla was the kayak Starkell used on his trip through the Northwest Passage, where he lost his fingertips to frostbite after getting frozen in near Tuktoyaktuk. Saturday's flotilla also included the heavy-duty canoe Starkell first built for his trip to the Amazon River before realizing it wasn't quite suited.
The big yellow canoe instead went on several long-distance paddling trips through the United States as far as Florida. A different canoe, now in the Canadian Canoe Museum, took Starkell and his sons on an epic trip from Winnipeg to the mouth of the Amazon River, a trip that earned an entry in the Guiness Book of World Records.
Mark Ojah, who helped organize Saturday's paddle, was a kid when he met Starkell, who first became an influence through his books and then later through friendship.
Ojah, who now lives and works in Texas and flew home for this weekend's events, said Starkell's message of perseverance resonated with him as a kid.
Starkell's sons, friends and fellow paddlers hope the flotilla becomes an annual event, a way to get Winnipeggers to haul out their old, little-used canoes languishing in garages all over town.
Also in the works is a bronze, life-sized statue of Starkell friends hope will be placed in a public spot close to the river, perhaps at The Forks, on the St. Boniface side of the Esplanade Riel or at the Alexander Docks when that area is redeveloped.
maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 15, 2012 A4
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