Hi Meg and Kialoas'
There are no words to describe our gratitude for your generous sponsorship. Every one was so excited about their new paddles and our first race. We felt we did extreamly well finishing before four teams. Truly was an amazing day for all,thanks for part, in believing in a little team with spirit. We are the boat on the left.
The Lotus Ice Breaker, is held at Barnet Marine Park in Burnaby BC. It is an Outrigger V12 race, and has a reputation for being freezing cold. They have hot tub and small fire outside, with lots of heaters in their club house. This years race course was 5.7 kilometers. When we arrived at the site we could not see the course, due to a thick fog. We were surprised to see snow on the ground.
There were 12 of us, 6 members with MS (Multiple Sclerosis) were able to make it. There are 18 paddlers,10 having MS. On a good day we will have two boats with our coach in his OC1. There are many times when it is only the MS paddlers showing up. Five core MSers are always there.
We were one chair and several canes,trudging through the snow, sand and water to get into the boat. Lotus Club members, went out of there way to help us. Two members were carried onto the boat, with others needing two helpers to get to and on the boat. The paddling community has really embraced us, we feel so lucky.
We had so much fun, everyone was amazed at our fabulous day. We MSers were the most chatty,sharing our life's experiences, some admitting that MS is the best thing that happened to us.
With out it we probably never would have had or taken the chance to enter the paddling world. A year ago we never imagined that we would be outrigging, let alone enter a race. Personally, I felt I was living in the moment and embracing every second of it. We may have MS but it does not have us. I was very fortunate to have my best friend husband attend our race, told me how proud he was.
The whole team could see his pride. This was a very special moment for me.
I emailed the days photos to the team and friends. One of our friends, with MS, returned a message. "It looks like you were having the time of your lives, after talking to you I thinks that is exactly what you are doing" Her husband, a paddler himself, "You better watch out that you don't all get your disability tax credit taken away, for being better than agile teams!!!"
Trisha Sim
MS Wildplay Warriors
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