Brandon Chin prefers the front seat; Poppy Horn defers to the back.

Both, however, are united by a common love of paddling.

The duo was among the youngest of the 10 person crew that represented the Sudbury Canoe Club at the CKO (Canoe Kayak Ontario) Sprint Ontario Championships hosted in Ottawa last weekend.

“I like the front seat in the K2 because I get to set the pace for both of us,” said Chin, who recorded one of four top-six finishes for the local contingent (5th in K1), highlighted by a silver medal performance in the Open Men’s K1 from club veteran Evan Volpini.

A 12 year-old grade 7 student at St Benedict Catholic Secondary School who moved to Sudbury about 18 months ago, Chin got his start in sprint kayak in the GTA, adding another athletic pursuit to a schedule already busy with volleyball and tae-kwon-do – largely winter sports.

“I was just really bored in the summer and my brother was doing this and I thought it was really cool,” said Chin. “It’s fun just paddling around the water and seeing a lot of things.”

Though he is now among the elders of the U12 division in which he competes, Chin is not all that close to being among the tallest, his older brother far more blessed with the height in the family.

“If you are taller, you can take longer strokes which gives you an advantage when going longer distances,” explained the pre-teen who also competed in the K2 with Viram Melien and then expanded the duo to a quartet in the K4 500m race that also featured August Wang and Ethan Gu in the vessel.

“If you are shorter, you can probably go the same speed, but you have to try harder.”

Wrapping up his fourth summer of sprint kayak competition, Chin can recall with ease those early days on the water where youthful enthusiasm reigned supreme. “Before, I was just paddling as fast as I could; now I try and pace myself really well,” he said.

“Now, at the start, I will go really fast and then settle into a really good pace. At the end, you go full speed.”

There is no doubt that progress will come from the simple physical maturity that Brandon Chin and teammates enjoy in the years to come. The key is to supplement that growth with a greater understanding of all that is entailed to create the perfect (or near perfect) stroke – and then unleash same in a race setting.

“My start is really good – long and deep strokes to start,” said Chin. “Then you start working up to faster strokes with more technique, pressing legs and rotating body. Pushing the legs is hard to do consistently because you’re more focused on your arms and turning.”

That turn, at times, in training, might reveal 13 year-old Poppy Horn sitting directly behind him in a K2 kayak.

“I don’t like being in the front of a K2 or a K4,” said the soon-to-be high-school freshman at Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School who finished 9th in the U14 Girls K1 and partnered with Vali Melien in the U16 Women’s K2.

“If you don’t paddle fast enough, it’s on you because you set the bar for everything.”

Also in her fourth year of paddling, Horn made the move to the sport after spending several years immersed with the Greater Sudbury Soccer Club program, acknowledging that the largely individual nature of sprint kayak merges well with her personality and preferences.

“I feel more pressure when I am playing with a team,” said Horn. “If I mess up, I always feel bad. When you are doing a solo sport, it’s all on you.”

Though she recognizes the improvement that have led her to being granted a more advanced boat this summer (lighter and faster), Horn also suggested that the very start of this journey which began at the Northern Water Sports Centre wasn’t all bad.

“The first few races went surprisingly well – I don’t really know why,” she said. “The first little bit of a race is always hard. You don’t really know if this is going to go well or not. Then hopefully, eventually, you get into a groove and then you zoom.”

On the pure break-down of her stroke, Horn is quick to pinpoint areas of refinement. “When I started, I was paddling really low, short and low and not really good full strokes. Now I sit up and paddle higher and stronger – and I twist a little bit more.”

Sitting up straight, from the back seat of a K2 boat, Poppy Horn will take in her race settings with appreciation, especially at her most favourite of venues in Welland. “It’s very open with lots of nature on one side, not on the side of the tents,” she said. “Ottawa is really condensed, but Welland is very spaced out.”

Other fifth place finishes for the Sudbury Canoe Club came courtesy of the Open Men’s K4 grouping (Julien Turpin, Evan Volpini, Oleksandr Buzanov, Mateo Volpini) and the Open Men’s K2 (Evan Volpini, Mateo Volpini).

August Wang and Ethan Gu cracked the top ten in the U14 Boys K2 event, placing eighth as SCC head coach James Mann reflected on a summer that featured some bigger picture wins along the way.

“As a coach, I love seeing how close my athletes become to each other, even in just one season of racing,” said Mann. “I know that they could be building friendships and relationships that last a lifetime and to have any part in creating that it is extremely rewarding.”