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| History of GTKayak |
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The Sprint Canoe and Kayak Club
at Georgia Tech was founded by Ty Hagler in the Fall semester
of 2000. Ty is an avid paddler who trains with the Lake Lanier
Canoe and Kayak Club. The club gained about 15 members during
its first semester and started to routinely paddle at Lake Lanier
on Saturday mornings.
Late in the Fall semester of 2000, the club reached an agreement
with LCKC (Lake Lanier Canoe and Kayak Club) whereby we could
use the facilities and practice during this beginning period
of our club until we have the means to practice with our own
boats and store them in a private shelter. In return for this,
the club pays $400 yearly to LCKC.
In 2001 five of our paddlers made the journey out to San Diego,
California and competed in, and won, the first Collegiate National
Championship. The fall saw several new boats as well as several
new members, allowing the club to compete in K-2’s and
K-4’s for the first time.
Spring of 2002 had our first major trip to Florida, with a total
of 12 paddlers making the trip to the Rainbow River. We also
found ourselves padding in North Carolina, taking a weekend
to enjoy a lake up in the mountains. Later that semester, 7
paddlers, five men and two women again made the trip out to
San Diego but we were defeated by the surprise appearance of
a 19 strong Stanford team.
In the fall we continued the tradition of Florida road trips,
participating in several races. However, the big news was our
winning K-4 from the college championship qualifying to race
for team USA in the World University Games in Bari, Italy. Three
Tech paddlers, along with a fourth from UCSD flew over to Italy
and were thoroughly demolished by the national teams of several
European countries. We found that the definition of “college”
was a little loose over there when we were floating on the start
line next to the German world champion K-4.
The Spring of 2003 saw a huge buildup to the first college championship
held on the east coast. We were able to have an impressive 22
paddlers, and were able to again take 2nd place. Our newly minted
arch rival Stanford took first, and Clemson, William and Mary,
and several other schools were far behind in the standings.
A strong fall saw several more trips to Florida and a new K-4,
the club’s second. Our new VanDeusen K-4 actually traveled
to Sydney for the 2000 Olympic Games.
In 2004 the club was only able to afford to send 7 paddlers
across to Sacramento but was still able to take a surprising
2nd place overall. Along the way the club’s K-1’s
got to experience several snowstorms, including one at Independence
Pass (11,990’). Additionally, they saw 2 national parks
and found out what a thunderstorm in Kansas really was. The
summer saw two new competitions, a race nearby in Roswell with
members taking 2nd and 4th, as well as another race in Ohio,
with the club again meeting with success. The start of the fall
has the club moving to a new facility located in nearby Roswell,
and its largest ever group of new paddlers. Things are looking
up for the kayak club. |
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