Peterborough Canoe and Kayak Club makes the decision to cancel its 2020 season due to pandemic
Hard to maintain social distancing with young paddlers learning sport in tippy kayaks and canoes, club says
The fledgling Peterborough Canoe and Kayak Club made a difficult decision to cancel its third season.
The sport’s intimate nature, especially when teaching it to newcomers, isn’t conducive to the social distancing protocols required amid the COVID-19 pandemic, says PCKC commodore Jim Stewart.
“You can’t put young kids into kayaks and not be within that six foot distance,” Stewart said. “We realized we couldn’t operate within that protocol.”
The club usually operates an eight week summer program on Little Lake. Last year there were 50 members in the under-14 age group and 15 adult masters.
Canoe Kayak Canada, the national governing body, issued protocols which might work for experienced competitors but didn’t fit the club’s mandate.
“They actually said don’t put people in tippy kayaks where you have to rescue them,” Stewart said.
“That’s what we’re trying to do is teach these young people how to kayak in racing canoes that are tippy. It was impossible for us to maintain that protocol.”
This year the PCKC planned to expand from half-day to full-day youth camps and add a standup paddleboard section.
“We’re trying to build our club and we have to think safety first for our paddlers.
“We’re obviously very upset we couldn’t have our third full year of operation because we had some momentum going and a lot of enthusiasm. But to do something improperly we thought would hurt us.”
If Ontario moves to Stage 3 of its reopening plan before August and the protocols change, Stewart said they could always consider trying to salvage a month of programming. The board didn’t want to hold back the three coaches from seeking other employment so decided not to delay a decision.
“All our major events we train for have been cancelled,” he said.
The club has ongoing costs but Stewart said, thanks to community donations, they can survive the loss of a season.
As for 2021, he says, “It depends a lot on whether we get a vaccine and whether or not we’re able to operate a full handson program for next year.
“I’m hopeful we’ll be able to get our head coach back, which is always a risk because he’ll now have a full year off and have to find something else to do during the summer.
“We had a team of people ready to come on and be fully engaged this summer. Our hope is we’ll either get the same people back or we’ll find other people to have a full day program for next year.”