June 2022
Well, it has certainly been a very busy few months since we last spoke to you, with lots of correspondence and meetings and in particular working towards ensuring that our National Representatives are well supported in their work.
To this end we have been developing a series of power point supporting documents’ to be used in presentations. We have also developed a presentation that shows the structures that exist between ourselves, IDBF, the IDBF Continental Federations and the National organisations. We are also ensuring that we have a clear message at national and continental level with a loud PINK representation of the breast cancer voice to support our paddlers across the spectrum of participation, and if they choose to move on to competition, we will be there for them also.
As you read this, I will have just returned from an outreach mission to Trinidad & Tobago and The Bahamas. I was joined in The Bahamas by our IBCPC board member and membership and new team development director, Betty Solley and two very experienced paddlers in Marilyn Mackey and Trish Koons from Against the Wind, Philadelphia. It is impossible to describe how much of an impact we can have on the lives of those people recently diagnosed. The sheer joy they show in realising this is the moment they can recapture that part of their lives that they lost when diagnosed. You can read more about this further in this newsletter.
The summer months have come and gone in New Zealand, but we had been experiencing an unseasonably warm autumn. Autumn seemed more like an extension of summer, with lightweight summer clothing still being worn well into May. Let’s hope that bodes well for the temperatures in April of 2023. The 1st June marks the first day of winter and we are definitely starting to wear warmer winter clothing now. While across the northern hemisphere, the boat covers are coming off and the paddling is getting underway. In many places this will be the first time many teams have been on the water for at least two and a half years. We want to wish everyone a wonderful northern summer and to say hip, hip, hooray for being able to get back out and enjoy this paddling adventure.
Enjoy your season of paddling whatever that may bring for you and continue to share the knowledge that Exercise is Medicine as we continue our adventure of Paddles Across the World.
Best wishes
Meri
