Muskoka Kayak School’s annual cookie race a fun—and tasty—affair

The Muskoka Kayak School hosted its Summer Slalom a.k.a Cookie Race in beautiful Port Sydney on Saturday, June 23, 2018. Paddlers competed in the fun race, which challenged them to maneuver their boats around a course of gates, as many times as they could. The cookie race is for all ages and is all about challenging skills learned in practices in a fun environment. Paddlers also have the opportunity to try a variety of different watercraft including solo kayaks and solo or two-person canoes. And everyone gets a cookie medal for participating.

Paddlers raced in their age categories from Mini Cadet, Cadet and Junior, to Master and Uber Master. Winners were declared for the best timed runs in Kayak Single (K1), Single Canoe (C1), Double Canoe (C2) and Combined (K1/C1).

Jacob Deemert, 16 years old, had the best K1 race with a time of 51.8 seconds. Andy Parry, in the Masters age category (and listed in the results as “Old”, had the best run for the C1 race with a time of 53.5 seconds, with his son Daniel coming in second with a time of 60.7 seconds. For the C2 race, Andy Parry and Mason from the Cadet category earned the best time of 67.1 seconds.

Students that are part of the Muskoka Kayak School, headed by Parry and his wife Stephanie, work hard to develop their skills and improve their personal bests. Some are training to compete at a higher level with their sights set on the provincial team and national competition.

“Canoe and Kayak Slalom is a great way to develop your paddling skills, in fact that is the reason it was developed!” said Parry, ‘happiest coach in Muskoka’. “With a sound base of slalom training the world is your oyster. You can take on the challenge of the Olympics, be a great coach, recreational paddler or a world adventurer. It’s up to you. Paddling is awesome!”

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