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The Nova Scotia Marathon Canoe Association 2004 Newsletter Home of the 2004 Canadian Marathon Canoe ChampionshipsBanook Book Highlights Marathon Canoeing Over 100 yearsAs Dartmouth's Banook Canoe Club turned 100 last summer,Allan Billard sat down to write the story of the famous club. Hisbook tells of many regattas, trophies won and races lost; not tomention the hearts won and lost at the popular summer dances.He also shines a light upon the constant thread of marathoncanoe racing which runs through the club, to the suprise ofmany sprint paddlers.Starting back as early as 1923, the club's founder donated atrophy for the "Long Distance Championship of the DartmouthLakes". The Arthur Weston Trophy is still put up for annual competition, eighty years later! Allan followsthe ups and downs of that race and the often unpredictable conditions of the portage through Shubie.Other well known events are included too, like the Annapolis River Race, first held in 1961 and won byBanook's Fred Lynch and Dave Fingard. Their names flow through both sprint and marathon contestsover the Sixties, giving proof to the fact that the two disciplines are quite compatible.The more recent Fred Lynch Race (only 20 years of annualcompetition) attracts a big contingent of paddlers from Banook,including Ladies C-4 and many sprint kayaks and canoes, as well asthe standard marathon pro-boats.As might be expected, Allan also retells some of the story of the recentMarathon Canoe World Championships. Banook paddlers MikeScarola and Richard Dalton did not disappoint their fans with a SilverMedal in the Senior C-2 marathon over 32 km.The book costs $25 and is available at the club, as well as from Allan,who will be at all the marathon races this summer.