Gig Harbor Canoe & Kayak’s performance paddlers feature Olympics hopefuls

Ask Elena Wolgamot what she loves most about paddling, it’s the people -- an opportunity to make unique friendships around the world within a tight-knit community.

Ask Jonathan Grady the same question, and he provides a very different answer.

“I... am not like that at all,” Grady said. “As much as I like paddling with people, I think the biggest draw for me is being separated from real life. Being out in your boat, just gliding through the water, the feel of the water… it sounds poetic, but it washes away all of the parts of life like school, work, relationships… I enjoy that.”

Both paddlers -- along with California native Jasper Caddell -- have spent the fall months training with Gig Harbor’s Canoe and Kayak Racing Team, as their next trials event could qualify the trio for a trip to the Pan-American Games or Under-23 World Championships.

With Grady as an accomplished canoeist and both Wolgamot and Caddell in kayaks, all three performance athletes are in the midst of training for their busy 2021 schedule as solo sprinters, all of their races measuring 1,000 meters or less.

With no regatta in sight, in Wolgamot’s words, and the remaining events scheduled for the GHCKRT in 2020 now canceled, the teenage trio have found ways to stay busy during the pandemic to prepare for races whose endgame features a trip to the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

But because Grady, Wolgamot, and Caddell have now seen over a year without a competition -- and still have months before the next -- the paddlers have little knowledge of the progression of their competitors, those they’d typically train with throughout the year.

“You really don’t know where you stand,” Grady said. “You think you’re getting faster because of your times and splits in practice, but you never know about the guy on the other side of the country. He could be faster, and you don’t know it.”

Wolgamot, hailing from Bellingham, spent much of the pandemic taking a virtual approach to her training, as one of her coaches on the Bellingham Canoe and Kayak Sprint Team sent her workouts through an application on her cell phone.

“Online coaching (makes it) really hard to maintain motivation,” Wolgamot said. “It’s hard to interact. … (The pandemic has) had a big impact. That’s why I’m here right now.”

The importance of the GHCKRT’s ability to continue practice in a safe and healthy way means more than providing all-world paddlers with the ability to compete for the Olympic Games; it affects athletes down to the elementary level, where the youngest of paddlers can continue to develop their skills on the water.

“This starts at the foundation, when they’re young,” GHCKRT Founder Alan Anderson said. “I think that the culture this team has built makes these kids stay engaged. It’s like a large family. They’re inspired from a very early age to reach high goals. They just stick with it. It’s a lot of years of hard work.”

Wolgamot began her training in Bellingham and Caddell still resides in Petaluma, CA, but Grady worked his way through Gig Harbor’s program after an invitation from family friends to attend a summer camp eleven years ago.

There’s plenty of reason to believe more world-class paddlers are on their way up.

“(This) doesn’t happen without each individual athlete choosing to be a part of a family, which means not just showing up, but trying their hardest and not making it all about themselves,” GHCKRT Coach Alyson Morse said. “Because of that family atmosphere, they’re very much encouraged to put everything out there. … With that culture, it seems like every kid is doing that, day after day. That’s what is amazing to me. Rain or shine, snow or ice, they’re out here putting the work in because they see something bigger in the end. … That’s what’s special about this team.”

That’s not to say the pandemic hasn’t affected the paddlers’ ability to train. Grady, alongside his older brother, had their sights set on the Olympics as a doubles team, so much so that Grady’s brother took a gap year from his studies to focus on paddling.

“Because COVID canceled all of the races and school started up a couple months ago, he [said] ‘I’m not going to take another gap year,’” Grady said. “So he went back to school and we stopped training doubles. That was the biggest thing.”

Caddell’s program back home in California -- the Rivertown Racers, a team he helped found -- also shut down during the pandemic, and battled back like Gig Harbor by opening in accordance with safety regulations.

“It was harder to be a team (at Rivertown),” Caddell said. “But from what I’ve seen from Gig Harbor, they’ve done a really good job of that. Being safe, and being able to get together as a team… it’s wonderful to see.”

The team, though, has had to pivot from their original schedule, with both remaining in the events 2020 schedule now scrapped due to COVID-related safety concerns.

Huston says the team will spend November 7 and December 12 practicing time trials, and the public are welcome to spectate races on both days that are scheduled for 8 a.m. at Ancich Park.

Grady, Wolgamot, and Caddell will all participate.

“What’s different about (the international) training program now is that we’re trying to build this spark up into a flame, if you will,” Huston said. “They’re just now in the U-23 category… This is their first year. You’re taking a four-year view of their training. … It’s not just about this trial, it’s about 2022, 2023.

“Their character, their work-ethic, their humility… It’s the mindset of a champion.”