An Amazing Day on the Ottawa River!
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The 2019 Riverkeeper 4K Was a Success!
On August 10th, 2019 more than 300 river enthusiasts showed up to swim, paddle and support a healthy Ottawa River watershed at the 6th annual Riverkeeper 4K, presented by Alterna Savings! We were so happy to see our amazing community come out to support the event and celebrate our magnificent river.
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The event is an epic 4K swim across the Ottawa River, from Ontario to Quebec, as well as shorter 1.5K and 750m distances. Bringing together a diverse river community, the race sees competitive swimmers swim alongside those who are more recreational; English and French speakers from both sides of the river mingle in the water; and a range of ages race together, from our youngest swimmer ever at 9 years old, to our oldest swimmer at 72. Many families also got in on the action, coming out in force to swim in the different distances, or volunteer as escort paddlers to keep swimmers safe and on course.
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Thanks to Lac Deschênes Sailing Club and Club de Voile Grande Rivière which were instrumental in making the event safe and welcoming for all participants. We also owe so much to our race director Nadine Bennett, as well as Jacey Bennett, who stepped up to lead the races. Our star Event Coordinator, Katie Shafley made sure everything ran smoothly and safely! Bravo to all!
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Photo from Theresa Kavanagh
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The Riverkeeper 4K brings people together to support the entire watershed, and we were grateful to see Ottawa City Councillor Theresa Kavanagh and Gatineau City Councillor Audrey Bureau both participate in the swim, representing the wards of our starting and finishing lines respectively! We also saw the return of Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada Catherine McKenna and Pontiac MP Will Amos, showing how federal officials from both sides of the river are taking action to promote the river!
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Protecting the River for All!
The Riverkeeper 4K is also an important fundraiser for the protection of the Ottawa River and its watershed. A huge thank you to all our participants, fundraisers, sponsors and prize donors! Thanks to you, this year’s Riverkeeper 4K raised nearly $40,000! All proceeds will support programs like our Pollution Hotline and our new road salt monitoring program coming next winter and will help to keep the Ottawa River clean to swim, drink and fish.
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Our fundraisers received some awesome prizes, including great gifts from Lush. 4K swimmer Margot Sunter was awarded the Tom Anzai Memorial Trophy as the top individual fundraiser. The runners up were Ellie Mortimer and Joe Haimowitz. Thanks for all your hard work promoting the health of the Ottawa River!
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We also want to recognize the top fundraising team, an amazing family effort which included two of our youngest swimmers! The Mortimer Minnows, all four of whom were also in the top 10 for individual fundraising! The runners up were the Rideau Speedeaus, and Team Orangutech, led by former Ottawa Riverkeeper intern Taylor Bailey-Hopkins. Thanks to all the teams for coming together to help protect the river, and Ottawa City Rafting for donating an awesome rafting trip as a prize for the top fundraising team!
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Race Results
Full results from the race can now be found online! Below we are featuring the top times for each distance. Congratulations to the winners, and thanks to our partners who contributed to our swimmer’s race kits, including Spa Nordik and Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton!
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RESULTS
750m
Women: Creskey, Gwen: 00:13:51.3
Men: Beauprie, Rod: 00:16:25.6
1.5K
Women: Tsounis, Sarah: 00:27:07.6
Men: McPhail, Sam: 00:23:11.8
4K
Non-westuit:
Women: Nienhuis, Mars: 01:05:33
Men: Quirie, David: 00:51:41
Wetsuit:
Women: Crochetiere, Elyse: 01:07:14
Men: Spencer, David: 00:52:13
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Partners and Supporters
Full results from the race can now be found online! Below we are featuring the top times for each distance. Congratulations to the winners, and thanks to our partners who contributed to our swimmer’s race kits, including Spa Nordik and Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton!
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