Six Cheema athletes named to Canadian junior, senior teams

WAVERLEY: Six athletes who train out of the Cheema Aquatic Club have been named to don the Maple Leaf at events this summer with the Canadian senior and junior canoe and kayak teams.

The selections were unveiled by Canoe Kayak Canada (CKC). They unveiled who will participate on the Junior, U23, and Senior National Sprint and Paracanoe teams.

“The third set of the National Sprint Team Trials in Montreal was the last opportunity for Canoe Kayak Canada and the High-Performance Committee to finalize the selection of our teams,” explained Graham Barton, Chief Technical Officer at CKC. “Our Canadian athletes have demonstrated impressive performances over the course of the World Cup season and National Team Trials. I am excited about the potential of our teams as they head to their International Championships over the remainder of the competitive season”.

Selected from Cheema were stalwart Michelle Russell of Fall River in women’s kayak for the senior national team; Marshall Hughes on the men’s kayak for the senior national team; Craig Spence for the senior national team in men’s kayak;Enfield’s Mason Koch in men’s canoe on the junior national team; Sloan MacKezie of Fall River in women’s canoe for the junior national team at the Olympic Hopes event; and Cameron LeDrew of Enfield in men’s kayak for the junior national team.

Canadian athletes were selected to compete in one or more competitions to take place later during the summer. The selection was based on the 2018 Selection Criteria published earlier this year on the Canoe Kayak Canada website.

The international canoe sprint competitions include:

ICF 2018 Sprint and Paracanoe Senior World Championships
August 22-25, Montemor O Vehlo, Portugal

ICF 2018 Sprint U23 and Junior World Championships
July 26-29, Plovdiv, Bulgaria

2018 Sprint and Paracanoe Pan American Championships
September 13-16, Dartmouth, Canada

2018 Sprint Junior Pan American Championships
September 13-16, Dartmouth, Canada

2018 Olympic Hopes International Regatta
September 14-16, Poznan, Poland