NYMCRA Article Archive

The Winter Weekend Warrior Workout project. From the brisk chill of a bright April morning on the Susquehanna to the dog days of a late summers afternoon winding along shallow Irondequoit Creek, dodging bugs and rocks, paddlers are out training. In the far north, competitors glide through the woods on the Raquette river after a few days of rain while the ocean tides decide the direction NYC canoeists take on the Hackensack that day. That all ends when the snow starts falling. When the paddles are put away and garage door is frozen shut, a very real depression can set in. The days are short and dark, contact with friends who met up at 5:30PM every day is cut to a few texts; “Hey I saw a gap in the ice today!”. To stave off the Holiday calories, some paddlers take to their skis, or join a gym, or wrap up warm enough to run outside, During the NYMCRA end of season banquet, a handful of paddlers hatched a plan to get together once a week to drink beer and relive the

Did you ever wish there were more canoe and kayak races in your area? Do you want to see a racing calendar with no empty weekends? Do you have a venue near you that would be perfect for a race? Well now you can have any or all of the above. NYMCRA is excited to announce the “Bare Bones Race Series”. The director is you and the logistics are all yours to decide. The reason we call it “Bare Bones” is because all you need is a timing device and insurance. No t-shirts, prizes or post-race meal is needed. The timing device can be a wrist watch, cell phone or something more sophisticated. The insurance is necessary to protect the organizers. It can be purchased for $5 or less per participant. Buoys can be borrowed or made from milk jugs with rocks for anchors. Or who needs buoys? Start at this log, turn the bridge pier or island two miles upstream and come back. If you think you’d like to put on a race, contact any member of the NYMCRA Board of Directors and we’ll publicize it for you. If yo

Forty-seven paddlers enjoyed cool and somewhat breezy conditions for the fourth running of the Tupper Lake 8-Mile canoe and kayak race last Saturday.          Unlike last year, with its mass start, there were two waves: the first consisted of 17 canoes and the second 19 kayaks. The addition of a new digital chip-scanning system that Matt Skeels of St Lawrence University has recently developed made it possible to time these two waves very accurately to Olympic standards of a hundredth of a second.          The start at the Simon Pond Tupper Lake Boat Launch was in somewhat choppy water but after the paddlers rounded the first buoy into the Raquette River the main challenge was to pick the best line up the river avoiding as much as possible suck water on the corners.           Last  year’s second-placer, Jim Mallory from Henrietta in the Over 50 class and in an Olympic K1,  eventually managed to take the lead from the rapidly improving Royal McDonnell from Paul Smith’s in an Epic V12 sur

By Katie Peck 2018 marks the beginning of my 12th paddling season, but my first time to complete the General Clinton 70 miler. In 2007, I started my paddling career as an amateur dragon boater in Philadelphia. I eventually wanted to paddle competitively, so I joined the Philadelphia Dragon Boat Association’s Yutes (youth) Team. In addition to winning various local races, I have paddled in crews that have won Nationals in Mixed and Women’s boats, and I have competed internationally at four World Championships on Team USA. Knowing that if I wanted to be a better paddler, I decided to branch out to other paddling disciplines. I always wanted to try marathon canoe, and in September 2016, the opportunity presented itself through Glen Green’s Philadelphia Fall Classic. Linda Lensch had broken her neck, leaving Betsy Ray without a C2 partner. I jumped at the opportunity to paddle with her. It was my first marathon canoe race AND my first time ever in a marathon canoe. I don’t re

While I am writing this it is currently 8 degrees outside and while we would all like it to be 80 degrees and sunny so that we would all be able to get out and paddle, bike, run or do something else enjoyable outside, we find outside inside either enjoying the Holidays or working out in the basement as I do to try to keep in shape and try to keep my weigh down after over indulging on food over the past month. I try to work out in my basement at least 5 days a week for at least a half hour minimum, splitting my time up between my Schwinn Air dyne, Paddle One machine, Total Gym, Stationary bike and free weighs. In order to prevent boredom I usually watch my ceiling hung TV typically watching some up lifting old TV reruns of the Dukes of Hazzard, MacGyver or some movies such as Miracle, Blue Brothers, Animal House, etc. Although some up beat fats paced high energy music always goes well with any type or workout. I would like to get out and paddle or do some other type of outdoor activi

We recently received several pictures from days gone by. If you know who these pictures may be of, feel free to comment below. Be sure to reference the picture's number :) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8