www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, August 28, 2015 | 80 Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports C H O L A R S H I P R E C I P I E N T "Connected to your Community" S S Burloak Canoe Club seeking its seventh national club title this week Approximately 90 paddlers hope to help Burloak Canoe Club regain the burgee as they compete in the CanoeKayak Canada national championships this week at Mooney's Bay in Ottawa. Burloak has won the Canadian club title six times, including three straight crowns from 2009-11, and has finished in the top three at nationals in 18 of the past 20 years. The club was a close second to British Columbia's Cheema Canoe Club at last year's national championships, following bronzes in 2012 and 2013. World championship participants Several of Burloak's paddlers competed at the ICF World Championships last week in Milan, Italy. The event was a qualifier for the 2016 Olympics, though none of the local paddlers were able to qualify Canadian boats for Rio. 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Mark Oldershaw was ninth in the men's canoeing singles (C-1) 1,000 metres; four-time Olympic medallist Adam van Koeverden and Burloak teammate Brady Reardon helped the Canadian men's kayak fours (K-4) team finish 16th in the 1,000m; Burloak's Rob Clarke and teammate Brian Malfesi (Maple Ridge, B.C.) placed 15th in the men's kayak doubles (K-2) 1,000m; and Oakville's KC Fraser was part of Canada's women's K-4 500m team that did not advance past the semifinals. Oldershaw (C-1 1,000m), van Koeverden (K-1 1,000m) and Clarke (K-2 1,000m) will have another chance to qualify Canadian boats for the Olympics at next year's Pan American Canoe Sprint Championship and Continental Olympic Qualifer in Gainesville, Ga. K-4 quota spots could only be qualified at the ICF Worlds, where the top 10 nations (with representation from four continents) earned trips to Rio 2016. Former Toronto Argonauts star Michael "Pinball" Clemons (left) stands with award recipients (left to right) Celine Da Costa, Cedric Sobotta, Lea Randall, Matthew Aslett, Erica Rzepecki, Karam Singh, Natasha Susman and Hunter Gutman following the Oakville Soccer Club's sixth annual scholarship awards earlier this month at Glen Abbey Golf Club. The eight universitybound players were selected for the scholarships based on their contributions to their club, their community and the game of soccer. Clemons, a popular philanthropist and long-time Oakville resident, was the keynote speaker at the event, where he shared encouraging words and life lessons with the scholarship winners and their families. | photo courtesy of Oakville Soccer Club 75-year-old paddler wins three world dragon boat gold medals by Jon Kuiperij Beaver Sports Editor Even at 75 years old, Verna Dalgleish isn't finding it difficult to compete at an international level. "I`m probably as fit as I've ever been in my life," she says. "I don't think I'm finding things harder. They're easier, because of my fitness level." Dalgleish helped the Canadian senior C (60-plus) women's team to three gold medals at last week's World Dragon Boat Racing Championships in Welland, the victories coming in the 200-metre, 500m and 2,000m races. She was also part of the national senior mixed team that earned bronze in the 2,000m, and now has 11 world-championship medals (six gold, four silver and one bronze). While Dalgleish describes competing as `easier', maintaining her fitness level is not. Her weekly routine includes pilates and cardio on Mondays; paddling training with the Welland Warlocks Tuesdays; squash, stretching and officiating soccer Wednesdays; light cardio followed by paddling training Thursdays; lifting weights and officiating soccer Fridays; and paddling Saturdays. Whenever she's feeling up to it on a Sunday, she'll paddle an outrigger canoe with the local Wai Nui O Kanaka club. "The racing is the easy part. That's the fun part," says Dalgleish, a Cornwall native who has lived in Oakville for the past 25 years. "The difficult part is the conditioning." In addition to paddling, Dalgleish also plays soccer (in a 35-plus women's house league in Burlington), squash and tennis. She took a break from her other sports this summer to focus on training for the national team. "Nutrition is important," adds Dalgleish, who works out with a personal trainer once a month. "My diet has changed tremendously over the last few years. I really like my beer, and that kind of goes by the wayside, but it's a nice treat once in a while when I've really worked hard. "Nutrition, and your sleep. When you work very hard, you have to give the body time to recover." Oakville resident Verna Dalgleish (foreground, pictured paddling an outrigger canoe), won three gold and a bronze at last week's World Dragon Boat Racing Championships in Welland. | Beaver file photo