Lake Hood, 2018 will be remembered as our first year in recent times to get medals at the Nationals. With increased fitness, not only did we win three bronzes, we also did Personal Bests in all our finals, including cracking the one minute barrier with a time of 59.68 seconds in the 200 metres. The graciousness of Boobops when we beat them in the 500 metres final will also be remembered.
Although cold, the weather held out with good conditions on the water. Our lovely new lined jackets came in very handy over our thick fleeces, keeping us warm between events and during prizegivings. It was great to have those prizegivings at the end of each event, rather than all at once at the end.
Once again, the BCS dinner was a highlight. Mixing with other teams’ members at tables meant the camaraderie within our own team extended to our BCS sisters in other teams when we met them the next day. Gemma McCaw was a riveting speaker as she described not only her connection to breast cancer through her nan, but told us personal stories and lessons learnt as a top sportswoman. We are still wondering whether it is true that when we think we are giving it our all, it is only 40%!
As always, the success on the water is matched equally by the enjoyment of being away together as a team. To share our goals, our successes, our disappointments, our accommodation, our transport, our meals, our fun times and our lives with each other, is treasured by us all.
I want to give a big thank you to Leslie, our coach, and to Judy and the committee for all their hard work. The rest of us just had to paddle; they gave so much of their time to ensure everything was ready and set up for us to succeed. Thanks too to our family members for their support and to the four paddlers from other teams who joined Busting for this event. They were a great addition.
This was the last year we would be at Lake Hood, but not the last one to win medals at Nationals events!
- Helen McKessar