A Chilliwack paddler is making waves in the world of outrigger canoe, but waves will be the enemy when she travels to Samoa this month. Cortney Russell is First Nations from Shxwa’y Village and she’s heading to the Polynesian island nation for the 2023 International Va’a Federation World Distance. The competition runs Aug. 10 to 19.
Russell will be the steersman on a Canadian boat with five other women, paddling in the women’s open (OC6) division. They’ll test themselves in a 24 kilometre race.
Russell earned her spot by acing an 18 kilometre time trial in Vancouver last fall. Paddling solo in choppy waters off Jericho Beach, she capsized five times and was still able to clock the time she needed.
“There was so much traffic on the water. There were big cargo ships, lots of sail boats and other boaters, plus the wind,” she said. “It was extremely wavy out there and it is typical to tip over a lot because the outriggers are so light. I know two women who participated in the time trials and weren’t comfortable finishing the course because of the conditions on the water.”
Early morning practices on Cultus Lake prepared Russell for what she faced. With refined technique and a mindset to stay calm and confident no matter what, she had a sense she was doing well. But she didn’t know for weeks that she’d done what she needed to do.
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“I didn’t find out I’d qualified until March, so it was around six months until I got the email,” Russell said. “It was a lot of suspense and I was so eager to know how I did. There were so many women, and men, and not all of them made it. They got emails earlier than I did telling them they didn’t qualify, and I was waiting patiently for an email to tell me I didn’t make it. Then to find out I did, it was such an emotional experience for me.
“I don’t even have an exact description for what I felt. It’s just so exciting.”
Of the six fastest paddlers, she was the only one with a background as steersman, and thus she got the job for Samoa. Sitting in the back with the steering paddle, it’ll be her job to help the boat stay on the course and navigate through waves that seek to tip the boat over. When she sees a big one coming in, she’ll tell her teammates to lean to the ama side, meaning the side with the outrigger or lateral support float. That’s what’ll keep the canoe from capsizing.
It’s a job that requires locked in focus the entire time. No chatter unrelated to the race. It’s all business and she likes that.
This won’t be the first time Russell competes on an international stage. She did the world sprint championships last year in London, which she called a once in a lifetime opportunity. She had zero experience as a steersman heading into that event, and she had only one half hour practice before she did it.
“It was such a huge role and it was just presented to me with three minutes to figure it out,” she recalled. “The first few turns were a little sketchy, but by the third lap I was able to figure it out and I was just hooked. It was that experience that made me want to qualify for this experience.”
Russell said she would have been at peace trying her best at time trials and not making it. Now that she has, she said her hope for Samoa is to get through the races without tipping. Beyond that, her goal is to have fun.
“Usually when we take the pressure off of being so competitive and we go out there to experience the fun and the healing part of it, we usually do pretty well,” she said.
Russell said she’ll be paddling for her family and her Indigenous culture, as she always does. She said she feels it to her core when she’s on the water, doing this with the memory of her grandparents in mind, thinking of all the Indigenous people who are lost or suffering and can’t do what she does.
“I paddle because of prayer and hanging on to something that’s so important to our people,” she said.
For more on the 2023 International Va’a Federation World Distance visit http://www.ivfiv.org/
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