Chilliwack’s Jazmyne Denhollander proved once more that she’s the fastest female kayaker in the country, taking top spot at the Canadian Whitewater National Championships.
The CWNC were held Aug. 9-12 in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec.
In the junior race on Saturday, Denhollander cut through the rapids to win by nine seconds. On Sunday, she came back to take the senior race, the third time the young paddler has laid claim to the national championship.
Denhollander won’t officially be a senior paddler (18-and-over) until next year, but her performances have her on the radar for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
The CWNC featured several different races using a variety of boats. In downriver racing, paddlers had to navigate the rapids as fast as possible from start to finish.
The classic course was approximately three kilometres long (on class one rapids), an the sprint course covered 300 metres (over class three whitewater).
In Slalom kayaking, paddlers maneuvered through an obstacle course of gates hung above the river. They were timed from start to finish, with time added on for each touched or missed gate.
In each of these races, paddlers used a single kayak, single canoe or double canoe.
British Columbia didn’t have a lot of representation at the CWNC, but the results were stellar.
Sam Fletcher was sixth in the single canoe class, seventh in the downriver classic (roughly three kilometres) and sprint kayak (300 metres) and 11th in singles kayak slalom. Chilliwack Centre of Excellence coach Jon Allen finished fourth in the senior kayak sprint, sixth in the single canoe, eighth in kayak slalom and ninth in the classic.