Lake Erie Challenge enjoys bright skies and calm waters

By Ron Giofu and Mark Ribble

ESSEX COUNTY — Onlookers along the southern shoreline of Essex County Saturday morning may have noticed some commotion in and around local beaches, as the Canadian Freshwater Alliance hosted the Lake Erie Challenge.

According to organizer Raj Gill, the group looks for different challenges to do each year, helping to raise awareness about Lake Erie and the ecosystem surrounding us.

“We initially planned on doing a circumvention of Pelee Island,” said Gill. “But the pandemic restrictions put a stop to that.”

The group include seven athletes of different disciplines, teaming up to navigate the Lake Erie waters. The group tackled the 50 km distance simultaneously in three different legs.

Paddleboarders Frank Torres and Rachelle Cardinal arrive at Colchester Beach Saturday morning as part of the Lake Erie Challenge.They had departed from a private residence along Front Road South in Amherstburg earlier that morning.

A team of two stand-up paddle boarders (SUP) departed from a private residence along Front Road in Amherstburg around 8 am Saturday, with arrival at Colchester Beach a few hours later.

Earlier, a team of three swimmers entered the water at Colchester to swim the 14km trip to Kingsville’s Cedar Beach, while a team of two kayakers departed Cedar Beach for Leamington’s Seacliff Park on the final leg.

The SUP team consisted of Frank Torres of Komoka Ontario and Rachelle Cardinal from London. The 20 km paddle was longer than the pair had done before, but they enjoyed every moment.

“We’re participating in the Lake Erie Challenge to raise awareness of issues over the health of Lake Erie,” said Torres.

On the swimming front, the swim team of Dr. Dennis Higgs, a U of W biology professor from Harrow, entered the water with swimmers Jennifer Agnew (Harrow) and Mairi MacGregor (Oakville). Agnew and MacGregor hadn’t had a lot of time to train with COVID restrictions, so they both swam 5 kms alongside their teammate before exiting the water.

Dr. Dennis Higgs, middle, is pictured with his partner Kirsten Poling, left and Kingsville Deputy Mayor Gord Queen, right, on the shore of Cedar Beach. Higgs swam 14 kms from Colchester to Kingsville.

“I could have gone a little longer,” said MacGregor. “But we had already decided to swim the 5k.”

Higgs, meanwhile, supported by his partner, Kirsten Poling in a kayak, soldiered on, surpassing his previous best of 10 km by over 4 km. He arrived at Cedar Beach around 12:30 pm. “The water was perfect,” he said. “He rocked it,” said Poling. “I am so proud of him.”

Some of Higgs’ lab students greeted him on the beach, proud of their professor. He was also welcomed to Kingsville by Deputy Mayor Gord Queen, who waited patiently for a couple of hours at Cedar Beach.

Higgs was the last of the athletes to arrive at their designated finish point, as team kayak breached the beach at Seacliff Park about 20 minutes prior.

Kayakers Don Barrie and Rose Siriois, of London, were happy to land at Seacliff Beach on Saturday, August 22, after paddling over 17 km as part of the Lake Erie Challenge.

Don Barrie and Rose Sirois completed their 17.11 km kayaking trip close to the shoreline between Kingsville and Leamington in four hours and 26 seconds.

The London-based pair saw plenty of wildlife along the shoreline, such as a fox, bald eagle, gopher and were even able to capture a few snap shots along the way. It was the first time for both of them to tour this part of Lake Erie’s shoreline. Both kayakers are from London. They said they were impressed with the healthy ecosystem but were also seeing other worrisome effects.

“There was one cove that had an overwhelming amount of plastic,” said Barrie, along with noting evidence of algae bloom.

The athletes were all proud to team up with the Canadian Freshwater Alliance to support the Lake Erie Guardians a group of citizens and businesses working together to raise awareness about Lake Erie health, and taking action to protect the lake and its rivers.

To learn more, or to make a charitable donation, visit LakeErieChallenge.ca