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www.insideHALTON.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, August 24, 2012 · 80 PADDLING PASSION: Pictured from left to right, Burloak's Abby Haines, Jillian Perrone, Sheila Mehrvar and Lise-Anne Laplante paddle down Sixteen Mile Creek during a recent morning workout. MARTA IWANEK / OAKVILLE BEAVER / @HALTON_PHOTOG Female canoeists train for love of the sport Continued from page 79 Sheila Mehrvar, 14. Mehrvar fell in love with it and the supthe world championships, and Canada's Laurence Vincent- port that Nicholson gave her as well as the technical foundaLapointe won the first women's canoe world championship tion helped her keep going. At the Ontario Summer Games gold. Recently, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last weekend in Welland, Mehrvar earned bronze in the C-1 accepted the inclusion of women's canoe (sprint and slalom) race. Twenty-year-old Taylor Potts has also trained with to the 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China. And in this Olympic year, women's canoe has received Nicholson as her partner. "She's been so positive," says Potts, considerable attention when Samantha Rippington, a "She's had way less support than we do." Potts is not dis27-year-old from Reading, England, filed a challenge at mayed by the sport's lack of an Olympic presence. "It's defiLondon's High Court in July against the London Games nitely headed in the right direction, so I think I joined at the right time." organizing committee for not carrying out an Nicholson was at the Olympics for the first equalities audit of the Olympic sports pro- "I'd be like, 'You're time during the London Games earlier this gram. She wanted to highlight the gender talking to the one month, but as a volunteer bartending at inequalities that exist, like the one in women's person here who Canada House. She managed to get out to canoe. To give women the opportunity to knows for a fact that every day of racing and says her mysticism compete in an Olympic year, when there is no about the Olympics is largely gone. It seemed world championships, the International Canoe is not true.'" like just another international regatta to her, Federation (ICF) organized a Women's Canoe Mallory Nicholson's but with a bigger audience, and seeing it in Cup held in Boulogne, France. reaction to people telling person made her even more convinced that there was little excuse to not have women's ollowing in the path that Kuyper, her that the London canoe as an event. among others, helped create, Burloak Games were special During Nicholson's career, she has tried to Canoe Club has seen female canoeists because they had avoid getting too involved in the politics of the like Mallorie Nicholson train hard and have achieved gender equality sport, instead putting all her focus on the the opportunity to compete at the interna- in all disciplines sport itself. In turn, she hoped being the best tional level. For much of Nicholson's career, she dominated the national championships and partnered she could be would be the best way to support the cause. with Vincent-Lapointe to win C-2 (doubles) titles at the While bartending, many times she would have people come world championships. At the ICF World Cup in Poland, up to her and say these Olympic Games were special because Nicholson won the C-1 (singles) 200-metre race. And they had achieved gender equality in all disciplines. "I'd be Nicholson in turn has helped train a lot of the new genera- like, `You're talking to the one person here who knows for a fact that is not true,'" Nicholson says. tion of women paddlers at the club. As the rest of the Burloak crew competes at nationals It was Nicholson who suggested canoe to fellow paddler this week, this will be the first time Nicholson is not racing since she began the sport. Instead, she is packing for Victoria, B.C., where she will pursue a masters degree. Nicholson is taking her boat out west, but she won't be racing competitively at this point as she focuses on school. She hopes to coach, especially young female canoeists. The biggest thing Nicholson learned coaching the elementary program at Burloak is that the connection to the sport for the right reasons is most important. In that respect, women's canoeists are fortunate because -- as much as the lack of Olympic status is lamented -- everyone in women's canoe is there because they love it, not for financial gain or other reasons. et, even with the passion, money is still an important asset for any athlete. Because women's canoe is not an Olympic event, it creates a cascade effect in terms of funding, according to Burloak head coach Adam Oldershaw. And the sport also gets caught in a vicious cycle -- if there's no incentive like the Olympics, some believe the level of racing won't rise, but if the level doesn't rise, others say women shouldn't be in the Olympics. The ICF has also said there needs to be a higher quota of participants for the sport to be included, but as long as the sport is not in the Olympics, there remains little incentive for countries to develop the sport. The ICF has said that making canoe slalom and canoe sprint gender-equal is at the "top of its list", but also said any changes might not take place until 2020 or 2024. "You've got to have a carrot to continue to raise the level until the level becomes a little bit on par where men's canoe and men's and women's kayak is," says Kuyper. See Men's, page 81 Y F