Before the evening's festivities begin I wanted to just send a few words into the blogosphere. Nationals as an incredible experience for me, and I enjoyed the week a great deal, Sherbrooke had a fabulous course, and a beautiful setting for the 2009 champs. As a Banooker most of my highlights will be biased, but I would like to send my congrats out to my fellow C4C members, Morty with his great coxing, Mark with his impressive C-1s, and Gab with some incredible crewboats teaming up with the greats of TR like Tamas Jr., Frosty and a former C-2 partner of mine Pierre-Phillipe.

I will carry some special memories from this regatta, and loved racing C-2 same side Ivan with my bro Benny, and pushing the pace a little. There were so many great Banook performances, and I was happy to see Jason McCoombs join the national team as the fourth Banooker on board.

On a more sentimental note, this was also a challenging nationals for many of us Banook paddlers as we competed in our first set of championships since the passing of our dear friend Michael Schaus. There were many times this week that I thought of Michael, and I was brought to tears when fellow clubmate Adam Tenwolde (Michael's protege) was victorious in the first year his incredible K-1 200 trophy was awarded... a truly special moment for all of us.

Once again a fabulous nationals, and a great end to the season... thanks to all the volunteers and officials for capping off another season of sprint canoe/kayak in fine fashion. Finally, big time congrats to Burloak for winning the overall burgee... a huge honour.

Cheers, and as always keep it real.

Andrew