Penticton hosted a brand new event last weekend and more than 500 athletes from across the province and indeed the Pacific region of the United States too -- including Hawaii – showed up to join in the fun.
It was the 2024 Canadian Outrigger Distance Championships, a season-ending showdown between those who practice the fine art of outrigger canoe racing.
It was also the very first time the event has been held in Penticton, and judging by the turnout and the comments of both the organizing team, a bunch of participants and even the mayor, there's a pretty good chance it won't be the last.
So, just what are outrigger canoes? Think of a standard canoe but imagine that it’s sleeker, faster, much less heavy, and balanced off to one side by an attached pod called an "ama."
Now imagine it'll cut through choppy waves like a proverbial hot knife through butter and you have a pretty good picture.
This weekend there were big six-person outriggers, smaller two-person outriggers and solo one-person outriggers – and of course the people operating them -- scattered all over Penticton's Okanagan Lake Park and in the water at the southern end of the lake.
The racing began in the early morning both days and finished in the mid-afternoon.
The "long" course, the home of the six-person boats, was a 21-kilometer triangle stretching all the way from Okanagan Lake Park to a buoy just offshore of Naramata's Manitou Beach to another buoy just offshore of the Summerland Resort and back to the start.
There were other courses too, including a shorter out-and-back journey to Trout Creek where solo and two-person boats did battle Sunday.
One of the weekend highlights came Saturday morning during the opening ceremony, where the Lae'ula O Kai team from Maui, Hawaii, a team that "perpetuates the sport and culture of Hawaiian canoe paddling" and wore orange shirts in honour of Canada's upcoming Truth and Reconciliation Day, received an official welcome from Penticton Indian Band chief Greg Gabriel.
For affable team spokesperson Sharon Balidoy, who said her group had researched local Indigenous issues before arriving, the welcome was "an honour."
"That song, their anthem (the Okanagan Song), is beautiful," she said. "When she sang 'We are beautiful because the land is beautiful,' I was thinking of our own Hawaiian expressions."
The trip to Penticton also included typical tourist happenings.
"We visited the wineries yesterday to make sure we were hydrating," laughed Balidoy. "We went on bike rides on the railroad (KVR) trail. One of us hiked up a mountain.
"The people have been so nice. Super friendly. The food's been very tasteful…lots of flavours."
John Amundson of Calgary, who at 78 years old is the spokesperson for the Calgary Iceman squad, said it's the "biggest" season-ender he's ever seen.
"What's really good about this one," he said, "is that there are more boats than at any National I've seen."
That counts for something. Amudson has won a solo world championship. And his team has won seven or eight.
The commentary was similar most everywhere we turned. We chatted with folks from nearby spots like Vernon and Kelowna and from distant locales like Nanaimo, San Diego and of course Hawaii. And the vibes were positive throughout.
Even Penticton mayor Julius Bloomfield, on hand with councilors Ryan Graham and Isaac Gilbert for the opening ceremony, gave the event a hearty thumbs-up.
"It's fantastic," he said. "It’s a manageable event and it's copacetic with everything else going on in the city.
"Events like this are really worthwhile. We'd love to have this back next year or anytime they want to do it."
Race director Don Mulhall of organizing body Penticton Paddle Sports Association, the same group responsible for the annual Penticton Dragon Boat Festival in early September and more events throughout the year, was upbeat afterward.
"It was awesome," he said. "It was much bigger than we'd planned.
"We really wanted to put Penticton on the map, so we invited teams from all over Canada and a few teams from the States too, knowing they were paddling experts and we were hoping to attract that sort of person. So that all worked exactly as planned."
According to Mulhall, the event pulled in 70 teams and 420 athletes for Saturday's big boat races and another 120 registered participants for Sunday's smaller boat events.
"There's probably a little overlap in there," he explained, "but it was way beyond expectations. We're pretty excited if we get 30 teams to our 'Duel in the Desert' in May, so we're more than double that."
Mulhall and event organizer Launa Maundrell, president of the Penticton Paddle Sports Association (and Mulhall's wife), believe the debut is potentially the start of a beautiful relationship where the event could return multiple times in the future.
"We did a pretty good job of it, and I think the Canadian Outrigger Racing Association probably recognizes that," said Mulhall.
And he stressed that his organization is no stranger to bringing visitors to the region.
"The city was busy this weekend, in the shoulder season when many tourists have gone home," he said. "Some of them were talking about wine tasting and renting bikes to ride up to the "Little" Tunnel, so there's lots of touristy stuff going on beyond racing.
"You know, when we add up all the events we do in Penticton, we attract more than 3,000 people over the course of the year. We're filling hotels and restaurants. We're good for the city."
