Turning around the Bouy on the first lap
The race was about 2 hours of paddling loops on a shallow tributary of the Assiniboine river in East Selkirk, Manitoba. As the first race of the season, it was not terribly populated but the weather was warm and sunny, if a bit windy. The start was a bit of a scramble with some bumping, but we got into a good rhythm pretty quick. There were 6 bouy turns on the course and if felt like we lost a lot of momentum. Probably we need a little more speed going into the turns, and I need to do a better job of posting so we turn tighter. I didn’t feel too hot, but I drank two litres during the race and never felt like I ran out of gas, so that was good. Overall I was pretty happy with the race and I am looking forward to doing another one.
The view from the car: canoe and GPS. You can't see what the GPS says, but it is the yellow #1 with NO OTHER ROADS
It took almost 9 hours to drive to Winnipeg and another 9 hours home, so I was lucky to be traveling with awesome friend and canoe stern Ann. She bought new roof racks for the trip since we were the only ones from Saskatoon going to Manitoba. 18 hours is a long way to drive for one paddle, so we also did a training paddle in Winnipeg on the Assiniboine and Red rivers. I paddled with paddling mentor Mike, who gave me about 6 dozen things to work on. that should keep me busy for the next few months!
Ann with her new roof racks
Chief Peguis church where we had our lentil chili post-race lunch. It was great!
The churchyard, with a cherry tree. How can Manitoba be so far ahead of us in weather and plants?
