Gig Harbor Canoe and Kayak hosts intra-team race day after Paddlers Cup cancellation

First, the Gig Harbor Paddlers Cup was scheduled for early April. Then, it was moved to October 3 and 4. And then, it never happened at all.

With the coronavirus pandemic still restraining local sports and clubs from hosting large events, the Gig Harbor Canoe and Kayak Racing Team had to move on without help from what would have been its biggest fundraiser of the year.

But that didn’t stop the team from taking advantage of what they could do: an intra team even at Skansie Park, packed with sprints and long-distance races.

“[There are] complications of bringing in other teams and parents,” said GHCKRT founder Alan Anderson. “And then the dragon boats, unfortunately, are not running at all right now. We’re not doing any team boat stuff right now either. It just complicated things too much. It’s unfortunate. It was our big fundraiser of the year, but we did want to just have a good time (Saturday) … so we just did a little racing.”

After a 5K race around the harbor to commence the day, both development and new paddlers from August’s summer camps worked on 100-meter sprints at Skansie park. Others practiced their 250-meter time trials at the Ancich waterfront property.

Even with all of the kids in their own boats to promote social distancing, Anderson says the races were held in waves to restrict the number of paddlers on the water at a single time.

“Several kids performed so well that they were able to move up into the next group,” Anderson said. “It’s like graduating up to varsity. There is good-spirited racing from most of the kids. … It worked out really well. It seemed like everybody had a good time.”

Alyson Morse, a coach for the GHCKRT, worked with the kids at the 100-meter races, and says it’s what the paddlers enjoyed the most during the day.

“They’re so much fun to watch,” Morse said. “The finishes are super close and really tight. … It’s really fast and they go all out. They don’t have to pace themselves. It’s very exciting.”

But what Morse stressed was the importance of Saturday for the newest paddlers, who have yet to experience competitive races due to COVID-related cancellations.

“One of the big reasons we wanted to have this practice was so they had at least one experience of going on these little mini-races,” Morse said. “All they were doing this summer was getting into boats, and this and that… They were able to see what (racing) was like (on Saturday).”

Anderson says he expects the remaining two events of the calendar year -- the Cascade Distance Race in Bothell scheduled later this month and a Frostbite Camp next month at Green Lake -- to be ultimately scrapped.

Because of that, you’ll likely see more Saturdays filled with intra team events at Skansie Park. After Gov. Inslee recently announced changes to his Safe Start Plan in recent days, the GHCKRT can allow more paddlers on the water during their practices, running Monday through Saturday.

“I would imagine (the scheduled events will) be canceled,” Anderson said. “We’re going to have an inter team race, pretty much like we did (on Saturday) every month for the next few months just to keep the kids jazzed up.”

This story was originally published October 13, 2020 at 6:00 AM.