They keep pumpin' them out at the Pumphouse. Talented whitewater canoe and kayak athletes, that is.
Maybe it's something in that Ottawa River water. But the connection is surely clear -- when the Canadian national team trials were held last weekend in Barry's Bay, 12 of 19 spots on the senior and junior squads went to athletes with a link to that cozy course at Lebreton Flats.
National development coach Michal Staniszewski doesn't think it's any accident.
"It helps us that the course is downtown," he said. "They can train full time and still enjoy school or work. It's easy access."
Heading the capital contingent: Two-time Olympian James Cartwright, named to the senior national team in men's C-1 along with Tom Hewitt of Gatineau. The senior women's K-1 roster includes Gatineau's Jennifer Gratto and Sarah Boudens of Killaloe, who trains here.
The junior national team also has plenty of Ottawa connections. The group includes Gatineau's Julian Potvin-Bernal, along with Ottawa's Spencer Pomeroy and Cam Smedley, men's C-1; Ottawa's Adam and Jamie Cutts, men's C-2; and Dominic Moisan of Gatineau, K-1.
Three members of the senior development team work out on the Pumphouse course, too: John Hastings, Killaloe's Laura Boudens, and Sarah Potvin-Bernal of Gatineau.
And make no mistake about it. Work, they certainly do.
"They're all still very young ... they have so much to look forward to," said Staniszewski.
In the immediate future, that includes World Cup events in July for the senior team, and a pre-world junior championship meet July 9-10 in Slovakia, followed by training camps in Slovenia and the Czech Republic.
"It's really cool," said Pomeroy of the latter opportunity. "It will be great to race and train with the European kids because they are some of the best in the world."
DIVING INTO NATIONALS: The Nepean Ottawa Diving Club has qualified seven athletes for the junior national championships July 7-10 in Quebec City. The meet will also serve as a qualifier for the Pan American championships. Representing Nepean Ottawa in Quebec City will be Francois Marcoullier, Group A men; Catherine Mallette, Group A women; Sophie Mallette and Leslie Martinson, Group B women; Brennan Villemarie, Group C men, and Megan Newell and Emily Murdoch, Group C women. Villemarie, Newell and Sophie Mallette qualified in all three events, while Marcoullier will dive off the one and three-metre boards and the rest are entered in one-metre. Catherine Mallette made it all the way back from a broken right wrist suffered in January.
DANCING UP IN CLASS: Ottawa's Siobhan Karam and Joshua McGrath, the reigning Canadian junior ice dance champions, are movin' on up. The Minto Skating Club duo makes its senior Grand Prix series debut at Skate America, Oct. 20-23 in Atlantic City, N.J. Meanwhile, Ottawa's Bradley Yaeger and partner Mylene Girard of Repentigny, Que., have been assigned to MasterCard Skate Canada, Oct. 27-30 in St. John's ... Hull's Anabelle Langlois and new partner Cody Hay of Grande Prairie, Alta., make their international debut at Skate Canada. So, too, will Minto's Chantal Lefebvre and Arseniy Markov, now that the Moscow-born Markov has obtained his landed immigrant papers ... Two-time Canadian pairs champs Valerie Marcoux of Gatineau and Craig Buntin of North Vancouver, B.C., also get a Skate Canada date, as well as the Trophee Eric Bompard, Nov. 17-20 in Paris.
AROUND THE AMATEUR SCENE: Ottawa Fury 16-year-old 'keeper Erin McNulty is currently suiting up with the Canadian Under-20 women's side, and earned a shutout in a 0-0 draw with the U.S. in a match in Houston ... Ottawa's Kathleen Forestall has been named to the Canadian alpine disabled ski team's women's development roster for the 2005-06 season.
rob.brodie@ott.sunpub.com
