Team Spotlight: Matt McQuire- “Sharky” by Will Richardson | Sep 19, 2004 | Whitewater | 0 comments October 19, 2004 Sharky is one of my favorite people. He is from Canada, and was part of the "keener" program at Wilderness Tours. The Keener program is a coached, chaperoned, teen kayaking program on the Ottawa River that has produced many a happy kid and many champion kayakers. While at the Keener program, back in 1995, I arrived with my Adventure Schools trip from Washington, DC and needed a helper. Sharky, then 15 years old, was available and had the personality to work with my students. He helped me all 6 days on that trip, and quickly became a celebrity among our group. Ask any of the students on that trip today about Sharky and they all have fond memories and funny stories. Every year I came up to the Ottawa and each year Sharky was at Wilderness Tours and moving up the ranks. He also made the Canadian Squirt team and was competitive in the men’s pro class in freestyle. Sharky graduated from the Keener program and became a full fledged kayak instructor for Wilderness Tours Kayak School, now renamed, Ottawa Kayak School (www.ottawakayak.com). Sharky became the co-manager of Ottawa Kayak School with James Roddick and the school has continued to draw an international client base each year on the Ottawa. Meanwhile, Sharky set his eyes on becoming an engineer and just when I found out he was an engineering student, he announced to me this summer that he has now graduated. I was both happy for him and sad, worrying that he would become an engineer instead of using his incredible skills as and instructor and kayak school manager. This summer, the IFC voted to make the world championships for freestyle every year, and better yet, voted to make Ottawa Kayak School/Wilderness Tours the host of the 2006 World Freestyle Championships. Sharky is working full time on the event, along with the kayak school. All I can promise you is that Team Jackson Kayak Team member, Sharky, with the help of my great friend, Joe Kowalski (owner of Wilderness Tours and Ottawa Kayak School) will not let the world down in 2006, just as they have make the kayaking world better with their awesome kayak school, lead by Sharky. Here Sharky is shown announcing for the Canada Cup/Canadian Team Trials/Ottawa Rodeo event on Labour Day (Canadian Spelling) 🙂 EJ Sharky announcing Submit a Comment Cancel replyYour email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment * Name * Email * Website Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ