It's the first of July! Canada's Birthday and the first day of the second half of the year! It seems crazy that we're this far into 2009, but I guess a lot of things have happened so far and it's been pretty busy. Gab and I arrived in Ottawa Monday afternoon after some delays at the airport in Halifax. We seemed to bring the weather with us, as they say, because upon arriving we were welcomed with a heavy downpour. Luckily Ian and Jenna had made a great dinner and we were able to just sit inside and enjoy the food and the sound of the rain outside. It was then time for a much needed sleep to help recover from the weekend. I took yesterday to rest as well, as I know I have a lot of hard work coming up in the next month and need to be ready for it. The Canoe Team training camp will start this Thursday here in Ottawa. A big team has been invited, and they will try to decide who is going to race with who in C4 1000 at the next set of Trials, and ultimately at the Worlds in Dartmouth. With so many guys trying to make the boats, I hope it will push everybody to be their best, and make Canada's C4 at worlds that much better. I'm also excited that there will be such a big team around to train C1 with me, as training alone is not my specialty. It should be a fun camp, as our team usually gets along really well even when there is tough selection going on.

Today is the annual Canada Day Regatta, hosted by the Rideau Canoe Club on Mooney's Bay. It is a great regatta that is usually well attended by people from all over the country, and continent. People come decked out in all red and white with maple leafs flying, showing their national pride. The racing is very exciting, most notably the famous Rideau 100, a hundred metre sprint that is known by many as the world championship of this distance. I am the defending champ (no big deal), but am still deciding whether I'm going to race or not. It will be a last minute decision, depending on how I feel later in the day. After the races, the festivities really begin, with BBQs, parties, and of course the annual trip downtown to see the firework display. I'm looking forward to a fun day, and wish everyone out there a happy Canada Day! Thanks for reading and keep your paddle in the water.

Mark, Rich, Cory, Paul. Photo by Bernie Irvin

Hey hey,

What a weekend! It was a great regatta here in Dartmouth, with nice racing conditions and some very exciting racing. I felt great on the water and came up with really good races in my both my 1000m and 500m. In both races I led from the first stroke and didn't give up the lead once, which was different than my other races of the year. With these wins, I have earned the right to race for Canada at the World Championships later this summer, which are right here in Dartmouth. I can't wait for the opportunity to race at the Worlds in front of a home crowd, and am really excited to be racing 1000m again, which I feel really confident about this year. My hats go off to Tom Hall, Richard Dalton, and all my other competitors who were both extremely tough to beat and stand up guys throughout the selection process. It's this kind of intense competition within Canada that has made us so competitive on the World level.

C2 1000m was a very anticipated race, and it lived up to the hype. Gab and Andrew looked really strong, and halfway through the race it looked like they were going to win convincingly, but Rich and Ben Russell stuck close, and came back on them hard, ending in a boat shoot finish. Morty and Kyle had a great race too, sticking close to the leaders and finishing a strong third. It's great to see these guys back on their game.

C2 500m turned out to be another great race, with Gab and Aruss again taking the W ahead of the same two other crews. They all looked really sharp, and it bodes well for our team at the Worlds later this summer. Congratulations to Gab and Andrew who locked up both C2 entries this weekend in some very hard fought races. They came up big when they needed to and I'm excited to see them rock the house at Worlds.

Congrats go out to everyone else as well, it was an exciting weekend full of great battles. Special mention goes out to all the Juniors racing at their Jr World Trials, they provided some of the most exciting races of the weekend, and I found myself running to the finish line for the Jr C1's despite having to be on the water for my race 5 minutes later.

I'd like to thank Dr Brian Seaman who helped me out with some chiropractic work this weekend, as well as Bernie Irvin, who has become much more than just our massage therapist. He is the most supportive staff member we have, and great to talk to and hang out with during regattas. His massages keep us loose and stretched out and ready to race, and we are really lucky to have him around so much. So hat's off to you Bernie, and thanks again.

Now it's time to take a deep breath, relax, and take in what has happened. I'll take some days off and meet with my coaches to plan out the rest of the summer. It should be a good one! Thanks for reading and keep your paddle in the water.

Hey everybody,

I have been back home in Burlington this week training on the Sixteen Mile Creek. It's been really nice staying at home, and great to see my family, hanging out and having nice dinners together. Training at Burloak has been great too, and while Ottawa is an amazing place to paddle, I get a special feeling when I get back to paddling on the creek where I grew up. It brings back a lot of good memories and so far I have felt really good on the water. There are lots of great training partners here, and it's been nice to get out in smaller groups after the giant battles we had in Ottawa last week. I've been relaxing at home when I'm not down at the club, which has been easy with a comfortable basement and a fridge full of food. I had a nice dinner last night with Vank, his mom and his grandmother in Adam's sweet condo in Toronto. So that's about all I've been up to, eating, training and relaxing. I'll be leaving for Halifax tomorrow morning, and am excited to race this weekend. I've posted some video of training from last week for you to check out. That's all for now, thanks for reading and keep your paddle in the water.