Rowers Learn Team Spirit In Canoe Race

The secret to the Big Canoe Challenge was this: The team that rows together will win.

It didn't matter how many people were in the boat, how big or small they were, or whether they were the most enthusiastic.

"This grows out of team building," said Bill Redmond, of Wild Creek Adventures, who supplied the canoes for Saturday's racing event at Lake June In Winter. "It's rowing, but it's really a team event. The LaBelle cheerleaders didn't even finish, but they learned to work to work as a team, so it was worth it."

They also learned another lesson Redmond imparted: The guy in the back of a 12-man canoe doesn't row, he steers.

When the LaBelle cheerleaders challenged themselves to try it again, they drafted Highlands County Sheriff's Office Lt. John Chess as the steersman, and the second time, they did finish.

"It was a sacrifice," Chess grinned as he disembarked from the back of the canoe, the only man among a dozen pretty girls, "but I had to do it."

Eric Zwayer rowed for Sebring Sunrise Rotary. Paddlers sat on the left or right side of the giant canoes, each as long as a speedboat.

"You don't want to dig harder than the guy in front of you," the Rotarians were told.

Teams were finishing the 200-yard course in two minutes or three minutes.

"The winner will take about 50 seconds," Redmond predicted, and watched as one boat loaded up with brawny men. It was one of two Highlands County Sheriff's Office teams, this one from the law enforcement side.

There was something about this group Redmond liked. They seemed to be more organized.

"They can win this," he predicted. "It's going to depend on the guy in the back. He's going to be tempted to paddle. He's got to steer. He's got to keep his paddle in the water."

And he was right. The road deputies, who included the SWAT team, finished the course in 55 seconds. But 25 yards from the finish pontoons, they went off course.

"See," Redmond pointed out, "he was paddling. They could have taken five seconds off their time."

But this was the Big Canoe Challenge, so the deputies dared the detention crew to a drag race.

This one was for pride.

And the roadies smoked the jailers, crossing the finish line in 49.59 seconds.

The Boy Scout troop from Lake Placid, who rowed for the NCT Group, finished second at 50.6 seconds, and Barrett's Diesel was third with 56.68 seconds.

Ridge Trails

While they were there, rowers raised money and awareness for Ridge Trails Association.

The group develops and maintains blueways and greenways, said Merritt O'Brien, president. Blueways are the lakes, greenways are the walking and biking trails.

The trails association, for instance, got Highlands County to build the Hammock trail, which leads from U.S. 27 to the Highlands Hammock State Park welcome center.

A future project will be to station kiosks at the beginning of each trail, so hikers can sign-in. If something happens along the way, searchers will know where to start.