The Burloak Canoe Club is a flatwater canoe/kayak racing club located in

Oakville, Ontario Oakville is a town in Regional Municipality of Halton, Halton Region, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Lake Ontario between Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton. At its Canada 2021 Census, 2021 census population of 213,759, it is List of tow ...

. It serves the communities of

Burlington Burlington may refer to: Places Canada Geography * Burlington, Newfoundland and Labrador * Burlington, Nova Scotia * Burlington, Ontario, the most populous city with the name "Burlington" * Burlington, Prince Edward Island * Burlington Bay, no ...

and Oakville and provides a variety of canoe-based activities for local residents focusing primarily on the two disciplines of

sprint canoe A sprint canoe is a canoe used in International Canoe Federation canoe sprint. It is an open boat propelled by one, two or four paddlers from a kneeling position, using single-bladed paddles. The difficulty of balance can depend on how wide or nar ...

and

sprint kayak Sprint kayak is a sport held on calm water (lakes, flatwater streams, etc. with little waves). The paddler is seated, facing forward, and uses a double-bladed paddle pulling the blade through the water on alternate sides to propel the boat forward ...

. Burloak Canoe Club is located on Navy Flats along the banks of Sixteen Mile Creek and boasts a sizable building that caters not only to sport but to special events as well.

History

Burloak's history emerges from two former canoe clubs: The Mohawk Canoe Club, formerly situated in Burlington where the

Spencer Smith Park Spencer Smith Park is a park in downtown Burlington, Ontario located on the shore of Lake Ontario. It was named in memory of Spencer Smith, a former president of the Burlington Horticultural Society who was instrumental in the development of th ...

now lies, and the Oakville Racing Canoe Club. Mohawk was started in 1958 by Mike Moir, Bill Pitt and Bill Dinsmore and raced under the black and green colours. The Oakville Racing Canoe Club was founded in 1974 by former Toronto Island paddler Bill Collins and Dorothy Jamieson. Oakville's colours were brown and white but when the two clubs merged in 1989, the new entity adopted a new set of official colours, though the Mohawk colours are often used unofficially to represent Burloak. The Burloak racing vest is solid black with a coloured badge on the front.

Programs

The Burloak Canoe Club is an integral part of the local community, participating and hosting local events and providing an alternative to people looking for a unique and challenging sport. Training and competition takes place in C-1, C-2, C-4 and IC-4, C-15 (

War Canoe A war canoe is a watercraft of the canoe type designed and outfitted for warfare, and which is found in various forms in many world cultures. In modern times, such designs have become adapted as a sport, and "war canoe" can mean a type of flatwat ...

), K-1, K-2 and K-4 canoes and kayaks. Programs exist for all ages and skill levels, from Atom (under 10) to Masters (25 and over), and beginner to high-performance levels. Participation in local, regional and national competitions takes place for all age groups. Burloak Canoe Club also provides a venue for numerous local

dragon boat A dragon boat is a human-powered watercraft originating from the Pearl River Delta region of China's southern Guangdong Province. These were made of teak, but in other parts of China, different kinds of wood are used. It is one of a family of t ...

teams during the summer months.

Olympians and World Champions

Many of the country's top paddlers have come out of the Burloak Canoe Club. These include

Larry Cain Laurence J. "Larry" Cain, (born January 9, 1963) is a Canadian sprint canoeist. He was the first Canadian canoeist since Frank Amyot to win an Olympic gold medal in canoeing. Early life Cain was born in Toronto, Ontario. He attended Oakville ...

(Olympic gold and silver medalist in C-1, 1984),

Adam van Koeverden Adam Joseph van Koeverden (born January 29, 1982) is a Canadian sprint kayaker and politician. He is an Olympic gold medallist in the K-1 500m category (2004) and a two-time world champion in K-1 500 (2007) and K-1 1000 (2011), winning four O ...

(Olympic gold and bronze medalist in K-1, 2004; Olympic silver in K-1, 2008 and 2012) and

Mark Oldershaw Mark Oldershaw (born February 7, 1983) is a Canadian sprint canoeist. Oldershaw won the bronze medal in the C-1 1000 m at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. He is a third generation Canadian Olympic canoer, fifth family member to compete a ...

(Olympic bronze medalist in C-1, 2012). In total, Burloak sent four paddlers to the Beijing Olympics (Brady Reardon, Mark Oldershaw, Adam van Koeverden and Chris Pellini). Oldershaw and Reardon are both from families that have sent previous generations of paddlers to the Olympics. Burloak has led the way in the development of women's canoeing (as distinct from kayaking), with notable paddlers Sheila Kuyper and Mallorie Nicholson. Nicholson won gold in the world championship C2 500 meter event in both 2010 and 2011.

Off season

Winter training for all levels and ages takes place in the clubhouse between approximately November and May, revolving around weight training and aerobic exercise.

Notable successes

Burloak has won the

burgee A burgee is a distinguishing flag, regardless of its shape, of a recreational boating organization. In most cases, they have the shape of a pennon, pennant. Etiquette Yacht clubs and their members may fly their club's burgee while under way ...

at the national championship (' CCA') on ten occasions: 1981, 1982, 1983 (as Oakville Racing Canoe Club) and 1997, 1998, 2000, 2007, 2009. 2010 and 2011 Burloak Masters have achieved similar success in the over-25 age-group winning the burgee in 1989, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2010 an
2017
and being runners-up at the annual National CanMas Competition on numerous occasions, including 2008, 2009 and 2011.''26th CanMas Program and Results, 2011'', p 27

References

External links

Burloak Canoe Club Website
{{coord, 43.4453, N, 79.674, W, type:landmark, display=title Canoe clubs in Canada Buildings and structures in Oakville, Ontario 1989 establishments in Ontario