A pair of lakeside friends chose to mark Canada’s 150th anniversary by water skiing Chestermere Lake more than 150 times this past season.
“That’s our passion in life, we’re crazy,” laughed Elaine Sampson.
Both Sampson and her friend Brenda Paton have lived on the lake for the last 20 years but have been water skiing longer than that.
Both developed and interest in the sport when they were teenagers.
“When we moved to the lake that’s when we really started to ski more,” said Sampson.
Since then the two spend as much time through the summer on the lake.
“We’re pretty keen,” said Sampson.
Paton said that this was the first time either of them had really challenged themselves with the water skiing.
They both agreed that with Canada 150, this was a good time to set themselves a challenge.
“We actually didn’t realize how big a challenge it would be,” she Paton.
Originally, they decided to try and reach a combined total of 150 skis of the lake. This would have been a modest increase on what the guessed they did in a normal year.
“And then we got up to 75 runs each and we thought well its only August, maybe we should try for 100,” said Paton.
When they reached 100 skis each they decided to go all out and see if they could each get 150 skis in before the weather turned.
“Which was really like going beyond the challenge we expected,” she said, “so it really did push us this year.”
In their push for 150, the pair ended up out on the lake skiing in less than optimal conditions on occasion.
They’ve skied on rougher water and much colder conditions than they ever would have in the past.
“We did have some cold days,” said Paton.
“That really cold day, we have to do it, we did six lengths,” said Sampson.
“We took off our gloves and both of us…our fingers were actually tingling,” said Paton.
That particularly cold ski happened the week before the first snow of the year.
“The weather was changing…we thought if we don’t finish it today we’re not going to get it done,” said Sampson.
As it turned out the weather warmed up again after the cold front and the pair managed to get in some extras skis before the end of the season.
With their challenge, they have only been skiing the lake, the ladies decided to calculate the they’ve skied this year.
After doing the math, they discovered they’ve skied the equivalent of a one-way trip to Winnipeg.
While the distance is impressive, their improved skill and stamina is what really stands out.
“We started the season out with two lengths was pretty tiring,” said Sampson.
“By the end of the season we could manage four lengths back to back.”
And they had the occasional day of six lengths although Sampson said that is still hard.
Part of the challenge comes from the fact that they do slalom for the length of the lake rather than just being pulled behind the boat.
Sampson said that with all the practice she got in this year she’s a lot more confident on the water.
“It was great, we don’t want the season to end,” said Sampson.
With this year’s season come to its inevitable end, the ladies have said that there’s no reason to slow down next year.
“Fitness is a very important part of our lives, there’s no reason to not go for more in 2018,” said Paton.
