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| The Story | |
It started on a Saturday. In Montreal, people were paddling canoes in straight lines. The Canadian selection trials for the Junior World Championships were taking place, and while three spots were likely to be taken by team members from the year before, two other spots were wide open to whoever could step up to the challenge. Gabriel Beauchesne-Sevigny, a young sprinter out of Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, and Scott Dickey, a rising star from the Eastern Provinces emerged to join the race-hardened veterans of the previous year’s team. |
 Mark, Ian, Gabriel, Scott and Andrew in Brazil |
They were Andrew Russell, from the paddling Mecca of Lake Banook, Ian Mortimer, from the purple powerhouse on the Rideau River, and Mark Oldershaw, the latest star of a long line of paddlers hailing from the waters of Lake Ontario. The five young canoeists came together and gelled instantly, training and living together all summer, focused on their ultimate goal, the 2001 Jr. World Championships. The summer was full of hard training, good friends, and great fun, and when the team traveled to the Worlds in Brazil, they raced as a team that was totally focused and ready to go. They came away with two gold medals, two fourths, a fifth and a ninth, becoming the best Canadian Junior Canoe Team of all time. While the team was only together for one summer, the friendships that were made and the strong team connection they had remained. Each went their separate ways, knowing that when the time was right, the team would be reformed and the journey would continue. And then some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth. And for two and a half years, the team passed out of all knowledge. |
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 Mark, Gabriel, Andrew and Ian in Florida |
Darkness crept back into the waters of the world. Rumor grew of a shadow in the East, whispers of a comeback, and the Team knew that its time had now come. But then something happened that the Team did not intend. Scott Dickey retired. But all was not lost, the four remaining team members united. They rose above all obstacles and established themselves on the Senior National Team, poised to take the team to new levels. For the time will soon come when canoe4canada.com will shape the fortunes of all... |