With a team of just six paddlers, the Sudbury Canoe Club sprint kayak team managed to return home from a recent Western Ontario Divisional Regatta with no less than seven medals as the crew prepare to compete at the Western Ontario Divisional Championships this coming weekend.

Showing the way with gold medal performances were head coach James Mann (1st in Masters K1 200m) as the pairing of Oleksandr Buzanov and Julien Turpin (1st in Junior K2 1000m).

The silver medal collection of hardware came courtesy of veteran Evan Volpini, who finished second in both the Junior K1 500m & 1000m races before teaming up with coach Mann to earn bronze in the Junior K2 500m distance.

A relative newcomer to the competitive circuit, Danica Jekic garnered tremendous experience while competing in both the Junior K1 500m girls (4th) and the women's masters K1 200m (7th).

Having recently qualified to compete at a marathon paddling competition in Hungary in the fall, Julien Turpin added a 6th place finish in the Junior K1 500m, 7th in the U18 K1 1000m and paired with Buzanov to finish 7th in the U18 K2 500m race.

The latter also learned a great deal, part of a tough field in both the Junior K1 500m (10th) and U18 K1 1000m (12th) while James Mann rounded things off, sliding in at eighth in the Junior K1 1000m grouping.