Club Information

Discover Kajaks

• What is the Kajaks Track & Field Club?
• Board of Directors
• Annual General Meeting
• Annual Awards Banquet
• Kajaks Perpetual Awards
• Club History—how it all began
• Achievements—Kajaks on the World stage

What is Kajaks?

The Richmond Kajaks Track and Field Club is both a recreational and high performance level club with over 200 members, ranging from elementary school athletes to masters (40 years old and up) athletes. The club is based at the Clement Track in Minoru Park, Richmond.

Since 1974, the club has had specialized divisions in different track disciplines (distance, sprints, jumps, throws), giving athletes the opportunity to train under some of the best coaching available.

The Sport of Track and Field is built on traditions and standards of sportsmanship, dignity and discipline, and functions as an inclusive, supportive, tight-knit community. The athletes and coaches of the Richmond Kajaks Track and Field Club follow this tradition by volunteering a considerable amount of their time to outside coaching, athletic clinics, and seminars. In addition, the club maintains its positive community relations by hosting and organizing several cross-country, track and road races throughout the year.

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Kajaks Board of Directors for the year 2005

The meetings of the Board of Directors take place in Room A of Brighouse Park, 7840 Granville Avenue, Richmond (at No. 3 Road).

A new Board was elected for 2005 at the Kajaks Annual General Meeting.

If you are interested in becoming a member of the board of directors, please use our volunteer sign-up form.

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Annual General Meeting

Kajaks Annual General Meeting for 2006 TBA. 

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Kajaks Annual Awards Banquet

November 6th, 2005, 5:00 pm at the Richmond Country Club, 9100 Steveston Hwy (beside Buddhist temple)

Schedule:

• 5:00 pm Meet and greet
• 6:00 pm Dinner
• After Dinner Awards and speeches

Cost:

• $12 for ages 12 and under
• $23 for everyone else.
• Maximum attendance 160. Reserve early!!!

EMCEE - our very own Byron Jack.
Guest speaker: Mike Redpath - Manager, Parks - Programs planning and design, City of Richmond (Mike is a former club member).

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Kajaks Perpetual Awards

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Club History

In the early 1960's, the Parks and Recreation Department of Richmond approached Doug and Dianne Clement and asked if they would be interested in starting up a track and field club based at Minoru park in Richmond. The city of Richmond would build the facilities (track and change rooms) in exchange for the coaching expertise of the two former Olympians. The opportunity was too good to pass up, and hence, in the fall of 1961, the Richmond Kajaks Track and Field Club was formed.

Back then there was not much to the club, just a handful of elementary and high school kids recruited by Doug and Dianne who had dreams of one day representing Canada at the Olympics. The athletes first trained on the grassy overgrown remnants of an old horse racing track until the first cinder track was completed in the spring of 1963.

Slowly but surely the club began to gather momentum and membership, and by 1968, Kajaks had their first athlete in the Olympics. While Anne Covell did not win a medal in Mexico, she set a new Canadian record in the 400 metres and helped establish the Richmond Kajaks Track and Field Club as a force to be reckoned with.

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Achievements

Competitively, the club continuously ranks among the top 3 in Canada. Several club members (past and present) hold Canadian records at the junior, senior and masters age categories. Nearly every national team Canada sends to an international athletics competition will have at least one Kajaks athlete on it. In 1995, 19 Kajaks members were on Canadian National Teams and 5 Kajaks (Zeba Crook, Charmaine Crooks, Bruce Deacon, Graeme Fell, and Jeff Schiebler) competed for Canada at the 1995 World Track and Field Championships in Göteberg, Sweden.

In addition, Kajaks coaches have often been chosen to coach numerous national teams at many top international events. Doug Clement was Canada's Head Coach at the 1993 World Track and Field Championships, Marek Jedrzejek was Canada's Head Coach at the 1996 Word Cross-Country Championships, Carmyn James was Canada's Head Coach at the 1995 World Track and Field Championships, and Norma Suarez-Jordan was Canada's Throws Coach at the 1995 Pan American Games.

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Kajaks Athletes at the Olympic Games

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Kajaks Athletes at the World Track & Field Championships

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