National masters kayak title for DeSouza
It’s time a city with a lake in is heart and a river running through it had a competitive canoe and kayak club.
That’s the belief of a group which founded the Peterborough Canoe and Kayak Club, a not-for-profit organization, in July. The club’s mission is to bring sprint canoe and kayak racing to Peterborough, home of the Canadian Canoe Museum.
“Peterborough is a city on the water,” said Jim Stewart, a national level masters racer who spearheaded the club’s formation with long-time coach and former national champion Nicholas Paschalis, who is the club’s head coach, and his wife Tessa DeSouza a double-gold medallist kayaker at the 1991 Pan Am Games.
“We have lots of people who are teaching people how to canoe in Peterborough but nobody teaching them the next level which is the skills involved in racing,” said Stewart, the club’s inaugural commodore.
The club will incorporate dragon boat paddling, stand up paddleboards and para-kayak.
The club is in talks with the city, the Survivors Abreast dragon boat team and the canoe museum about partnering on a boathouse on Little Lake at Johnson Park, just north of Beavermead Park. The plan is to begin the club’s inaugural season next June. A web site is in the works.
The club has a board of directors and a charter, some initial funding in place, has applied to Canoe Kayak Canada for official
It had been 25 years since Tessa DeSouza had raced a kayak competitively but she picked up where she left off, as a national champion.
Now racing in the masters division, the 49-year-old teacher at St. Anne’s elementary school, won gold medals in the women’s K1 (50-55 age group) at the Canoe Kayak Canada masters championships in Welland on Aug. 27. Her time beat all competitors from ages 25 and up. She also won a gold in a mixed K4 which included Peterborough’s Jim Stewart, 71.
DeSouza was on Canada’s national team from 1985-92 capping her career off with gold medals in K2 and K4 at the 1991 Pan recognition and is ordering boats and equipment. “We’re going to put people in top quality racing canoes and kayaks. We have two dragon boats donated to us from Survivors Abreast so we’re pleased with that,” said Stewart, who retired to Peterborough 10 years ago and got involved on the board of the canoe museum. When his term on the board ended he looked for another project.
“I thought what Peterborough was missing was a sprint racing club,” he said.
“I was raised in one and it kept me off the streets. It gets kids away from the malls and the streets and into something I think is a great activity with camaraderie and an opportunity to gain self-respect. Am Games in Cuba.
She hadn’t planned on competing again but when she and husband Nicholas Paschalis began talking with Stewart about founding the Peterborough Canoe and Kayak Club Stewart pushed her to give it a try.
“I got in a boat and I really enjoyed it. It was worth getting back in,” she said.
She went to the competition with no expectations.
“I went online trying to search to see if I recognized any names and you get back a little bit into that zone where you want to do well,” said DeSouza, who trained for a month alongside Stewart with Paschalis coaching the pair. “I knew what I needed to work on if I was going to compete again.”
Stewart also won a bronze in men’s K2 racing with his 42-yearold It’s great for kids. We have an aging community and there are a number of former paddlers in Peterborough. I’d like to get them in our masters program.”
DeSouza and Paschalis are originally from Montreal and first met at the Otterburn Canoe Club there. Teaching jobs brought them to the Peterborough area in 1991 and they’ve long wanted to start a local club. A conversation between Stewart and Paschalis got things rolling.
“We talked about doing this when we were younger, it just never happened because our kids weren’t interested,” DeSouza said. “When you find someone who is interested it kind of brings you back.”
“I met Jim a couple of years ago,” Paschalis said, “and he seemed very son from Carleton Place. Stewart and DeSouza also teamed in a mixed K2 (45-54 age group) which would have finished second if not for a false start which disqualified them.
Stewart has won 15 medals at national championships over the years but he had also not raced competitively since representing Canada at an international dragon boat championship in 2003 in Poland. He hadn’t competed at a national championship since 1989.
“It took a while to lose weight and get in shape to be able to compete at these championships. It was a good challenge,” Stewart said. “It was really good to get me off my tail and to get back into it again. I was gratified that I didn’t totally embarrass myself.” passionate about canoeing and kayak. I thought he was a great person to get involved with to start a club because he would make sure we saw it through.”
“Jim is also involved in the sport,” said DeSouza, “so it really helped to have someone involved who really knows the sport.”
They’d like to make Peterborough a hub for the sport.
“We want to be very professional,” Paschalis said. “We want to be a club that is second to none with regards to delivering programs here in Peterborough.”
NOTE: Anyone looking to be involved or wishing to learn more can email pcanoeclub@gmail.com or find the Peterborough Canoe Kayak Club on Facebook.