Advertisement

'You've got to keep at it': 76-year-old paddler sets out to win international canoe title

After surprising himself in one of his first canoe races, Jon MacQueen made a promise to himself to keep practising and improving until he could at least come within spitting distance of the front runners.

"I said, 'I'm going to keep doing this until the guys up front, I can see the back of their T-shirts,'" said the 76-year-old Saint John resident. "Now, they have to read the back of mine."

- A long-forgotten tale: Paddler on Centennial racing canoe wants it on show

Next week, MacQueen will wave goodbye to New Brunswick for the summer as he sets out to defend a series of Canadian and international championships that have secured his crown as the fastest paddler over 50.

"I never even spent much time in a canoe before I turned 50," MacQueen said from the seat of his carbon-fibre canoe on Lily Lake in Saint John. "But now there's no place I'd rather be."

The senior turns heads as he slices through the surface of the water, blowing past paddle boats and kayakers.

He's clearly the fastest person on the lake, making people point in awe and ask for photos — once they catch up.

"Am I the fastest of them all? Well that's what I'll soon find out," MacQueen said.

Last year, he captured the title of national champion of the United States Canoe Association by placing first in the solo C-1 Grand Veterans 2 category as well as being first in the doubles C-2 category.

"But those trophies are only thanks to everyone who really ever helped," MacQueen said. "Even in the smallest way. Because even though it says my name on them it really should be the hundreds of people who have helped me along the way."

He said his most difficult issue with racing at an advanced age is getting out of his own way.

"You got to keep at it and you got to get rid of a lot of 'stinking thinking,'" MacQueen said. "Because people I went to high school with, they've aged horribly, some of them, because of what they are allowing themselves to do for exercise."

MacQueen will compete in paddling competitions across Canada, the United States and abroad, hoping to capture championships and defend titles in both solo and team races.

His summer will wrap up in China in late October.