The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

I-1 2017 Sports "Connected to your Community" ci CD oo o ro o i-* -^i o > m 00 m JO C D q! CD =r i--H Q J_ o p b o 3 an d Reed, also paddled and provided h im m o re o f a di re ct co n n ectio n to the sport as h e w atch ed th em strive to reach the highest levels. D ean com p eted at the 1 9 7 2 O lym pics and w as join ed on the C anadian team by his b roth er in 1 9 7 6 in M ontreal. S cott's arrival gave Canada a th ree-q uarter O ldershaw crew th at com p eted at two w orld cham pionships, b ut their ch an ce to race together at the O lym pics w as w iped o u t by th e b o y co tt of the 1 9 8 0 G am es in Moscow. "I didn't think m u ch ab ou t it at the tim e," said Scott, w h o w ou ld m ak e the O lym pic team in 1 9 8 4 , "b u t it really w as a unique situ ation. I don't think yo u 're going to see too m an y crew s w ith three b ro th ers." It was m u ch the sam e for Adam , three at the tim e, and M ark Oldershaw, one, w hen their dad raced in Los Ange les. The Burloak Canoe Club, w here their dad w as head coach from 1 9 9 0 -2 0 0 7 , was a second h om e to them . There they developed the sam e love for paddling and gradually began to realize their family's place in the sport. "It's n o t really u ntil yo u 're 13 or 1 4 and yo u start train ing and practisin g, that's w h en yo u get th at p erspec tive shift," said A dam , w h o com p eted a t the Pan A m erican cham pionships before getting into coachin g. "T h at's w h en you start to u nd erstand the scope and scale of the acco m p lish m en t an d th e co m m itm en t (to By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver staff It played an integral role in th e form ation of Canada. Early explorers like A lex an der M ackenzie u sed it to find passage to the n orth an d w est. D avid T h om p son u sed it as he m apped alm ost five m illion square kilo m etres of C anada and the n o rth ern U nited States. T h e can o e w as a vital m eans o f travel to reach the vast expanses o f land that today form o u r country. L ater, it b ecam e essential to th e econom y, an indispens able tool in the fur trade. As trains an d later au to m obiles replaced the canoe as a m ean s of transporting goods, the can o e's role di m inished, b u t it found new life in recreation and sport. It's a legacy th at's carried on today on Sixteen Mile C reek at the B urloak C anoe Club, w h ich has earned its p lace as one o f the co u n try's top clubs. T h e reach o f the club exten ds beyond C anada's borders as does the n am e of the family th at has b eco m e syn on ym ou s w ith it, th e O ldershaw s, w ho have p rod u ced three genera tions o f O lym pians. Bert O ldershaw com p eted at the 1 9 4 8 , 1 9 5 2 and 1 9 5 6 in b oth can o e and kayak. B orn tw o years before his father's last O lym pics, S cott O ldershaw w as too you n g to rem em b er his dad com p etin g b u t h e grew u p surrou n ded by the sport. His older b roth ers, Dean Members of the Burloak Canoe Club compete in a mixed war canoe race at the national championships. The club has earned 10 national titles (three as its predecessor, the Oakville Racing Canoe Club). | photo submitted m ak e the O lym p ics)." T h e O ldershaw n am e was always w ell know n w ithin the sport, b ut M ark's bronze m edal in L on d on m ad e it even m o re recognizable. "You do get cau g h t off guard w hen p eople in Russia k n o w the n am e, or rem em b er you com peting, w h ich m akes sense because as a co ach an d a com p eti tor, I w as always aw are of o th er p add lers," said Scott, the C anadian nation al team coach . "T h e su ccess M ark had ju s t m ade it m o re well k now n in the public in gen eral. I'll tell p eople m y nam e in a store o r a b ank o r at the b ord er for the cu stom s guys o r at airp ort security, and they'll always ask ." Ju s t as the O ldershaw n am e has grow n in profile, so too has the club they are so closely associated w ith. F o rm ed in 1 9 8 9 w ith the m erger of B urlington's M ohaw k C an oe Club and the Oakville Racing C anoe Club, B urloak is relatively you n g club w h en you co n sider th e C anadian C anoe A ssociation (n ow C anoe Kayak C anada) w as form ed in 1 9 0 0 . T h e su ccess of its prede cessors set th e club up w ell w ith several accom p lish ed international paddlers on the new club's coachin g staff. T h e su ccess in recen t years o f four-tim e O lym pic m edallist A dam van K oeverden and M ark Oldershaw, an O lym pic bronze m edallist in 2 0 1 2 , also raised th e club's profile and inspired a new generation o f paddlers th at are n ow getting their first taste of international com petition. "T h e club is surprisingly well k now n in tern ation ally," S cott said. "T h e two o f th em really p ushed the club, m en tion in g it a lot in interview s an d w earing ou r stuff overseas." "C anadian paddlers tend to be p retty into their clu b ," adds A dam Oldershaw, w ho su cceed ed his father as Burloak's head co ach , m eaning the club has had an Oldershaw as its head co ach for all b u t on e year. "W e've had a group of athletes over the years com p etin g in tern a tionally and the fact that they are active in the club helps p rom ote it." Ju s t as th e Oldershaw s fell in love w ith the sport and w ere inspired by their family m em bers, Burloak provides a sim ilar environ m en t for th ose w ith o u t the family h istory in canoeing and kayaking. B urloak has w on 10 n a tional cham pionships (th e first three as Oakville R C C ), w h ich ranks seco n d only to the 19 w on by M ississauga, w h ich w as founded by Bert Oldershaw. Both Oldershaw s agree th at Burloak's inclusive nature has played a big p art in its su ccess, m aking ro o m for b oth recreational and h igh -perform an ce paddlers am ong its 1 7 0 m em bers. "It's n o t as c u t an d dried as som eth in g like hockey, w here you have to m ake cuts b ecau se yo u only have so m an y spots on the team ," S cott said. "T h ere are kids w ho w an t to be racin g the first day," A dam said. "T h ere are oth ers w h o ju st w an t to do som eth in g fun w ith their friends. W e've go t p rogram s for b oth , b u t w e find a lot of th em , on ce they get into it, it's hard to p ry th em ou t of the b o at." Burloak's biggest su ccess es at nationals have co m e in the events th at require the m o st collaboration -- w ar canoe. It's an event w here a teenage paddler can n o t only train at the sam e club as an Olym pian b u t actually get in a b o at w ith th em and w in a m edal as p art of a 1 5 -m e m ber team . Burloak w on six o f the nine w ar can o e races it entered at nationals. The previous year it w on five, w ith no o th er club earning m o re than tw o w ins. "A lot of it com es dow n to buy-in from b oth o u r ju n io r and senior ath letes," A dam O ldershaw said. "You attach prestige to it and yo u get th at u niversal b u y -in ." As long as Burloak con tinu es to inspire youn g C anadians to p ick up a paddle, it will con tin u e to keep a p art of C anadian his tory alive.