This past weekend we enjoyed our annual OWL training camp. The weekend was filled with lots of training and fun! OWL rafting is a whitewater rafting company located an hour outside Ottawa on the Ottawa river.
Most people arrived at OWL Friday afternoon to start the camp off with a classic rollerski and some drills, followed by a croquet match by the beach.
Anna enjoying the swing on Friday night
Playing Croquet after dinner - John was the champion both times!
After a rainy night we started the morning with an early jog and then an interesting rollerski. Karl decided it would be a good idea to try out rollerskiing in a different place than we were used to around OWL. The only problem is that none of us are familiar with that area and apparently maps don’t show pavement quality. So the pavement went from rollerskier heaven, to decent, to not so ideal and unfortunately, to bumpy. But it was still a good technique and distance session and hey in races the snow isn’t always perfect anyways. Then, after a great OWL lunch we did a strength session that gave us all beach bodies for our late afternoon swim! The rest of the evening we enjoyed OWL’s famous steak dinner, pigs and sauna!
Ready for the afternoon run
Karl doing his best to keep up with the girls
Picturesque scenery running through surrounding farmer's fields
OWL's new pigs...they eat steak, bacon and whatever else you give them!
Sunday was long but definitely fun! We started out rollerskiing to the rafting “put-in” (usually rafters would bus this part- not rollerski). After the rollerski we all quickly geared up for our sport yaking trip down the river. Sport yaking is slightly more intense than rafting because it looks like a raft but only for two people. So there is a greater chance to flip out and whitewater swim which Vesta, Gavin and Karl got to show us. Once we were safely down the river we paddled to shore to do yet an other change over. Usually customers would take a relaxing pontoon boat with a meal back to OWL at this point. But, since this was a training camp and not a vacation we decided to run back to OWL along shore. After the hour and 28 minute run we were back at OWL with a tasty lunch waiting for us. Then we packed up our tents and said bye to OWL till next year.
Anna and Sheila heading to the river
Newcomers Vesta and Ingrid ready to take on the Ottawa River
The crew on the river
Vesta falls out - Ingrid stays in
FAIL: Gavin goes for a swim
Karl and Gavin - getting back in for another try
Starting the run back to OWL
We would like to give a big thanks to Dirk and Claudia Van Wijk for hosting us at OWL for the weekend. Also, for more information about whitewater rafting/ sport yaking check out the OWL Website.
The view from OWL
"Setting the Stage. Setting the Pace.
La mise en scène. Au rythme du client."