Burloak Canoe Club’s WINNING TRADITION includes winning the National Championship five times and the Canadian Masters National Championship six times since it was founded in 1989. In addition, the club has won 328 National Championship races, placed in the top three clubs at the National Masters Championships 13 times since 1989 and placed in the top 3 among the clubs in Canada at the National Championships in 17 out of the last 20 years.

Our Beginnings

The Winning Tradition started in two former canoe clubs that merged in 1989 to form The Burloak Canoe Club. One was The Mohawk Canoe Club, founded in 1958 and formerly located on the lakefront in Burlington. The other was the Oakville Racing Canoe Club founded in 1974. It was located in a garage across the street from Burloak’s current club house. Oakville Racing Canoe Club placed five athletes on Canadian Olympic Teams and Mohawk had placed two athletes in the Olympics.

The Club and its predecessors have had 15 athletes on Senior World teams, 12 athletes on junior world teams and 10 athletes on Olympic teams, two of whom have brought home five Olympic medals.

They are Larry Cain (Olympic gold and silver, 1984) and Adam van Koeverden (Olympic gold, silver and bronze at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics). In addition, Mark Oldershaw won two golds at the Junior World Championships in 2001.

This WINNING TRADITION has made the Burloak Canoe Club the most productive contributor to Canada’s International and Olympic teams as well as being the most successful club in Canada regionally and nationally at all age levels including the Masters segment.

Coaching Legacy

What accounts for the Club’s success? The answer is coaching. Scott Oldershaw served as the club’s Head Coach for 17 years, from 1990 through 2007. He built his coaching process on his own experiences as an Olympic athlete to produce and offer programs that developed athletes who are succeeding at the National, International and Olympic levels. Scott’s son Adam has taken over from his father to build on the Winning Tradition by developing excellent athletes who have recently excelled at the National Championships and Canada Games.

The Burloak Canoe Club is a flat-water Olympic canoe-kayak racing club. Run by volunteers on a non-profit basis, it offers programs for all age groups in the Burlington/Oakville area. It has over 200 members and is open to the public without restrictions. The Club is located on the banks of Sixteen Mile Creek, near Lakeshore Road in Oakville.

The Founders of the Club established a culture of friendship and commitment to excellence through hard work. The Club’s coaching staff has adopted this culture in all of its programs.

A great example of the club’s culture happened just eight days before Adam van Koeverden led the Canadian Team into Beijing's Olympic stadium carrying Canada's flag. He was seen paddling on Oakville's sixteen mile creek in a fourteen man war canoe. There he was, the defending Olympic and world Champion paddling fourth on the left. Adam is a team player, for sure. That’s what Burloak is all about.

THE CLUB’S WINNING TRADITION MAKES THE BURLOAK CANOE CLUB A WORLD LEADER IN DEVELOPING THE BEST ATHLETES AT LOCAL, NATIONAL AND OLYMPIC LEVELS.