Sherbrooke to host national Canoe Kayak Championships
Sherbrooke will be host to the 2018 Canadian Sprint Canoe Kayak Championships this coming August, welcoming more than 2,000 visitors to the shores of Lac des Nations in the largest sporting competition the community has seen since welcoming the Canada Summer Games in 2013. The competition will take place from August 28 to September 1, followed immediately by the Masters Tournament on September 2.
“It’s 2,000 athletes over six days on one site,” said Nicolas Lemay, Chair of the Host Organizing Committee and President of the Club Nautique de Sherbrooke. “The athletes will arrive two or three days before, so for the city this means roughly ten days of increased activity and visits,”
Lemay described the competitions as events that will monopolize the lake in the middle of the city as well as the nearby Jacques-cartier Park.
“It is very, very big,” the committee chair said. “I think there are 197 trials in the first five days and on the last day, the Masters competition, there are more than 75.”
At the moment it is too early in the competition season to be able to say for sure how many competitors will be present because the vast majority still need to qualify, but Lemay said that 1800 hotel bookings related to the competition have already been made. He added, however, that the Canadian national team is certainly coming.
“They are leaving the world championships and coming to Sherbrooke,” he said. “These are world champions and Olympic champions who have proven themselves in Rio and Barcelona. The level of competition will be very high.”
2016 the quality of water in Lac des Nations came under close scrutiny as testing showed elevated levels of bacteria. Although water quality has improved significantly since then, Lemay said that the organizers will be keeping a close eye on the situation.
“It is a preoccupation, but we are not an immersion sport,” he said. “We’re not in the water; we’re on the water, so it is not as worrying for us as it would be for waterskiing or swimming, for example.”
In the lead-up to the competition, Lemay said that locals will notice a large number of tents and towers being set up on site to help support the competition and the various events that go along with it.
Although Sherbrooke previously hosted the championships in 2009, Lemay said that he sees this year’s event as a way for the city to prove its ability to host larger-scale events.
“One of the greatest impacts will be that it will show what we can do with a body of water like this,” the organizer said, calling the event a way of giving the lake back to the community by bringing it to life with activity.
As with most large public events in the city, the organizing team for the competition is currently seeking volunteers to help keep everything running smoothly. 120 helpers will be needed in a wide range of jobs over the course of the 6 days.
More information about the competition is available at http://sprintnationals.canoekayak.ca/