Haliburton Highlands Paddlers

Dragon Boating in Haliburton County

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Paddlers support Skate Park

The Haliburton Highlands Paddlers  have entered a mixed team in the Barrie Festival for this Saturday, August 25th.  Our fundraiser for this event is the Haliburton Skate Park (Haliburton Junction Skate Park).  It is a facility for all ages, not just for youth with skateboards, but elderly folk in wheelchairs, walkers etc.

Joannie Ransberry and Cathy Boake volunteered to take care of this fundraiser.  Joannie will be attending the Wednesday evening practice this week.  If anyone would like to contribute to this wonderful, local cause, please bring cash or cheque to the practice on Wednesday and give it to Joannie. If you are not a Haliburton Highlands Paddlers but wish to help paddlers support the park please feel free to contact info@haliburtonhighlandspaddlers.ca

Cheques made payable to :  Municipality of Dysart et al.

If you donate $50.00 or more, you will receive a tax receipt.  If this applies to you, please ensure that your name, postal address and physical address are shown with your donation.

We are wishing the team a great day.

Paddles up!

Heather

Peterborough Dragon Boat Festival – June 9, 2018

Haliburton Highlands Paddlers had a successful day at the Peterborough festival.  We came second in both 400 m heats (yes, 400 metres!).  Our best time was 148.88 sec.  Although we did not qualify for the Community Mixed final, we were happy with our results.  Our thanks to “Dawn Stoutley, Photography” (‘Auntie Dawn’ to Lauren Forbes), who took many pictures of the team in action.  Thanks also to our COACH Scotty Boyd and last but not least, thanks to our wonderful team who raised $3398.40 for Peterborough Regional Health Centre’s Breast Assessment Centre.  Well done Paddlers!

Submitted by Carolyn Ellis

Note: More photos from this Festival will be posted shortly under the “Galleries” tab of the HHP website!

Fun & Success in Barrie

HHP Women’s Team Performs Well at Barrie Festival

Haliburton made its mark at the Barrie Dragon Boat Festival on Saturday August 26th, 2017.  The three-race effort paid off, our team getting faster with each race: the Haliburton Highlands Paddlers placed second in the festival’s Female Consolation final.

In addition to our regular twice-a-week mixed (men & women) sessions on the water, race coach Lois Deacon had previously held two special Thursday evening practices just for the Barrie Festival team and made sure, on the day, that the 21-member (20 paddlers plus drummer) all-women team had fun, paddled hard and paddled in unison.

Our club chairperson and race drummer, Elli, was pleased with Saturday’s results, saying “it is unfortunate that we ended up in the Consolation Finals, our Consolation Final time was actually faster than all of the times posted in the Women’s main finals.”

Saturday marked the Barrie festival’s 15th year and a total of 48 teams from across Ontario competed.  The atmosphere was great, the weather was superb and the venue was stunning.

Dragon boaters were asked to be mindful of the need in their local communities, Festival organizers specifying that each team should raise a minimum of $500 for a local charity.
The Haliburton Highlands Paddlers raised $1,696.00 to be shared by the Haliburton Food Bank and the Rowan Pettinella Fund!

Haliburton Highlands Paddlers competes in two dragon boat festivals each year.  In June, our mixed team won a silver medal at the Port Perry Festival.

The Haliburton Highlands Paddlers, a women’s and men’s club, paddles two days per week on Monday and Wednesday at 7 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. New members are always welcome.

The club’s 41-foot dragon boat, Susanna Foo, affectionately known as ‘the Foo’, is moored at the Patient News dock on Haliburton’s Grass Lake from May till mid-September, after which she is wrapped and stored for the winter at Haliburton RPM.
This year’s very successful season is about to draw to a close, with our last on-water session being Wednesday 5:30pm, Sept. 13th.

On Thursday Aug. 31st, our 54-member club hosted its annual Coaches Appreciation Night at the Fish Hatchery.  All the members of our club join in giving a great big thanks to our volunteer (& excellent!) coaches; Scotty Boyd, Lois Deacon, Janine Papadopoulos and Marg Cox, without whom there would be no “Foo Paddles Up” in Haliburton!

HHP Scores SILVER at Port Perry Dragon Boat Festival 2017-gallery

By Joan Ransberry

Lisa Werry and fellow paddlers “left it all on the lake” at the Port Perry Dragon Boat Festival Saturday, June 17.
Once again, the Haliburton Highlands Paddlers came home with hardware, placing second in the Mixed Division “D” to win a Silver medal.

The Port Perry festival was especially exciting for the 38 participating teams. In keeping with the commands of dragon boating, all eyes were in the boat. However, when boarding the boat at the beginning of each race, competitors looked up to the sky: The storm clouds loomed all day. The weather gods sure teased: the sky opened just as the awards ceremony got underway.
The Haliburton Highlands Paddlers didn’t mind getting drenched. “We waited in the downpour for coach Scotty Boyd and race captain Ginny Carmichael to hand out our hard-earned medals,” said Joannie Ransberry.

An especially proud competitor, Lisa Werry had one concern at the end of the third and final race.
“I wasn’t sure if I had enough energy left to get out of the boat,” said Lisa.

Team coach Scotty Boyd was very pleased with the results of the day. “The team did a fantastic job, especially in the last race,” Scotty said. “We had four first-time paddlers. They did a great job.”

First-time paddler Julia Donnelly came away from the race very impressed: “Everything was wonderful,” said Julia. “I had a great time.”

The Haliburton Highlands Paddlers appreciated the efforts of steerspersons Lois Deacon and Lillian Hall and, of course, drummer Jane Boyd.
“It was a very precarious race” said Jane. “I’m just glad my team didn’t dump me in the lake.” Once again, Edna Jamieson gave it her all. “There was lots of spirit from the paddlers, from the coaches and from the volunteers. It has been an amazing day,” Edna said.

The Haliburton team’s focus is now on the next festival to be held in Barrie on Aug. 26.
With a few more paddlers needed for this all-women’s race, a call has gone out to “fill the boat.”
Haliburton Highlands Paddlers chairperson Elli Armstrong is excited to enter the Haliburton team in the Barrie festival. “Last year we walked away with the ‘Rookie of the Year’ award. The Barrie festival is a wonderful venue and promises to be a great day. Let’s fill the boat!”

RACE!

Team pic Barrie 2016
Team pic Barrie 2016

 

By Joannie Ransberry

Our team is, indeed, pumped for Saturday’s race in Port Perry.

When we hear “Paddles Up”, we’ll be ready. We’ll give it our all.

Thanks to coaches Scotty and Lois and drummer Jane, we will race with great gusto.

Because we are who we are, our dragon boat team will keep it together and, like always, we’ll have a load of fun.

Personally, I would like to thank the coaches, the race coordinators and the club executive for all that they do.

While I’m not the best paddler in the boat, I’m okay. It’s okay to be okay.

One thing is absolute: it is a privilege to be a member of the Haliburton Highland Paddlers.