Bonding on Winnipeg’s rivers

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This article was published 24/07/2017 (3280 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Three sisters have bonded through paddles and boats on Winnipeg’s rivers and said they will be cheering for each other while competing at the 2017 Canada Summer Games.

Sarah and twins Maddy and Emma Mitchell are three of 10 women competing in the canoe and kayak women’s teams. Sarah, 21 and Maddy, 19, will be competing for the women’s canoe team while Emma, 19, is competing in the women’s kayak team. Maddy and Emma will be doing close to three races a day during the competition because they are entered in all events, and Sarah specializes in C4 (canoe and four people).

“Most of the times you’d have an athlete that specializes in a certain distance or a certain team boat, but we’re in all distances and team boats whether we specialize in it or not,” Maddy said.

The Garden City Collegiate graduates have been involved in the sport for more than five years, and it all began because of their mother, Tammy, has a longtime involvement with dragon boat. She took the girls to summer camps, and their interest was piqued.

“It’s a team sport, but it’s also a single sport,” Emma explained. “Especially here at our club, we’re super close. We’re all a big family, but then on the water, it’s just you.

“You’re in control of your whole race; you’re in control of the start, you’re the only person that’s moving your boat. It is good to be in control and always have the support of our team behind us.”

Working out on the water and the connection the club has is a significant boost for the three young women.

“The connection you have with all the people because we spend so much time together is nice because we all also help each other out,” Sarah added. “It’s really supportive, and it feels more like fun than working.”

Maddy and Emma run the introductory kayaking lessons at the Manitoba Canoe and Kayak Center (80 Churchill Dr.) and said the sport is fun and enjoyable.

“You want to be outside, and you want to work hard, and then you don’t realize you’re just looking at the water, and you’re paddling by, and it’s enjoyable to get out and work out every day,” Maddy said.

This won’t be the first time the Mitchell sisters are going to the Canada Games. They competed in 2013 in Sherbrook, Que., but not in as many events. They said they are confident they will do much better this year, given they had more time to practice and improve their skills.

“We weren’t the top athletes going, and we weren’t entered in a lot of races, so it’s cool to have the experience of the games, to experience living in an athlete’s village with athletes from across Canada,” Maddy said. “Now that we’re entered in more races, we’ll use the experience that we’ve gotten in the past four years being in the last Canada Games to hopefully medal at these.”

The team had seven sets of tryouts to qualify for the Canada Games, and the five fastest athletes from all seven got to compete in the Canada Games. Emma said qualifying was something they were expecting since they are some of the top athletes in their club.

“Our coach knows who the top crew is and he worked and trained us for that top crew. You can see it coming for most of us because we’ve training for quite some time,” she said.

Sarah, Emma and Maddy won’t compete against each other and said the support they have from each other encourages them to do their best and feel at ease during a competition.

“Maddy is faster than me, and I’m fine with that,” Sarah said with a laugh. “Even when we are racing in the same race, I can peek ahead and see what Maddy is doing, and I like secretly cheering for her on the inside when she’s on her own. Because we are in different age categories, I always cheer for her.”

The canoe and kayak competition starts on Mon., Aug. 7 at 9 a.m. at the MCKC. This is the only sport free to attend. Go to www.canadagames.ca/2017/ for more scheduling information.