14 year old surprises the field and wins gold in 5000m race

The last day of the Canoe Kayak competition was certainly the wildest featuring the dynamic 5000m races.  Competitors completed several laps of the 500m course, making canoe kayak look more like short track speed skating or track cycling.  A wide variety of strategies were used in all the four 5000m races, creating the most exciting racing to date. 

Team BC secured two medals – 14 year old Cassidy MacPherson (Maple Ridge) paddled her way to a gold in Women’s K1 5000m and veteran kayaker Alex Brent (Dewdney) earned his second bronze medal of the Games with a strong performance in the Men’s K1 5000m.  Other results include:

Women’s C1 200m     6th – Sam Loutet
Women’s C1 5000m   6th – Anna Zhang
Men’s C1 5000m        6th – Ydris Hunter
Men’s C2 200m          5th – Noah Said, Omar Said
Women’s C4 200m     7th – Zaffia Laplante, Sam Loutet, Melody Oh, Anna Zhang
Men’s K1 200m           7th – Matt Koehler
Women’s K2 200m      6th – Jia Kim, Cassidy MacPherson
Men’s K4 200m            6th – Cameron Antifave, Coen del Valle, Matt Koehler, Michael Lanyon

Quotes:
Cassidy MacPherson (Maple Ridge), Canoe Kayak  – Women’s K1 5000m
On surprising  the field and winning gold:
“It feels good, I never really expected this and it’s obviously a really nice experience. I paddled my hardest and did what I practiced.  Long distances are my strength and I trusted my training and my coach.  My next step is training for nationals next year and hopefully in four years to come back to the next Canada Games to do as well, if not better. I’m now looking forward to eating a lot of ice cream and having fun with my teammates.”