Para-athlete

Frank was born April 7th 1958 at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Peterborough Ontario. His parents, Frank and Maria, were ecstatic about the arrival of a beautiful baby boy. He would be the third child in his loving family. His sisters Anna Maria and Pia were extremely happy to have a new addition to the family.

Frank was a very quiet, adorable baby, who needed more care and attention while at home. Everyone assisted his mother at the time. Frank was very “Special” to the family. He was included and encouraged to participate in many activities with the neighborhood children. He also played with his sisters. He would laugh with anticipation and excitement whenever company was around.

Frank’s participation in the Special Olympics has brought his family pride and joy. His facial expressions displayed his indomitable spirit throughout competitions. His many gold medals attest to his strong and determined character.

Dino, the youngest has been his “Best Buddy”. The rapport the two brothers share is indescribable. Their bond is truly exceptional. 

Frank’s 60th birthday brought a reflection of happiness to his family. His parents would express their love and appreciation to everyone involved in his care.

Frank has Cerebral Palsy (CP) which affects his body movement, muscle control, muscle coordination, muscle tone, reflex, posture and balance. It also has impact on his fine motor skills, gross motor skills and oral motor functioning. Cerebral Palsy’s effect on functional abilities varies greatly. Many affected people can walk while others, like Frank, use wheelchairs.

Frank’s CP affects three of his limbs, both legs and right arm. His mobility is purely via a one-armed wheelchair to move around. He uses his left arm only to propel his wheelchair.

In the early 1980s, Frank started wheelchair racing as a recreational activity. He competed in the Eastern Ontario CP Games and to his surprise, he won most of the events in which he competed. He then went to the Ontario CP Games, where he continued to roll up the wins. Frank continued winning both at the Regional and Provincial games.

Frank was using his everyday chair to race in, which certainly placed him at a disadvantage, since most racers had specially made racing wheelchairs. They could also propel them with two arms.

Frank was classified as a CP3, which meant racers had three limbs affected. Where Frank could only wheel with one arm, his competitors all wheeled with two arms (one of their arms would be mildly affected by CP, but they were still capable of using both arms to wheel).

Unfortunately, records at this time were not recorded on computers. The Ontario CP Sports Association has some partial results. Frank has a scrapbook of newspaper clippings with his results at provincial and international meets. He has an extensive collection of medals trophies and plaques won while completing across North America and in Belgium. Douglas Wilton, the head coach/manager of the Canadian CP team, can confirm these results.

As a result of his success, Frank was invited to try out for the Canadian CP National Team. He attended their training camp in Windsor in 1983. Team coaches stated Frank needed enhanced training plus a racing wheelchair to compete at the next level in the Olympics and the World Games.

In consultation with his local coach, Frank decided he wanted to complete at the next level. This meant training would ramp up. As well, he needed to find someone to design and build a one-arm racing wheelchair, as there was none – zero – available anywhere.

It was at this point two significant changes happened for Frank:
One – Training: A two-year training program was designed by Team Canada coaches specifically for Frank and his local coach to carry out. The goal was for Frank to peak at the 1984 Olympics for the International Games for the Physically Disabled (later called Paralympics). His training was ramped up to three weight training sessions per week plus three track sessions per week. 

The training became progressively harder, and Frank met all the targets and challenges. This training was not easy, and during the winter they drove 45 minutes each way to an indoor track for training three days a week. It was a big commitment. After 1984 Frank took a short break from training, then back to another two-year program to peak again for the 1986 Cerebral Palsy Work Championship Games.

As all high-level athletes know, years of training six days a week can be an incredible grind. Add to that the fatigue of the travel for training and meets for an individual in a wheelchair. Three winter nights each week, Frank got picked up at 6:30 p.m. to drive 45 minutes to an indoor track for his training session. This involved a warm-up, stretching, that night’s track routine, cool down and back into a cold car for another 45-minute ride home. All these years of weight and track training made him tough to beat, and revealed Frank’s character.

Two – Get a Racing Wheelchair: Frank initially raced in his everyday Everest and Jennings wheelchair. A new Everest and Jennings chair was purchased and modified which resulted in Frank’s times improving. Frank received a lot of acknowledgment and praise from competitors and coaches from around the world for being able to compete at the World level without a racing chair. 

Frank’s competitors were all wheeling with two arms using the latest technology in racing chairs. We could not get a wheelchair maker or a university engineering department or a machine shop to make one. Much effort was put into finding someone who could design and make a one-armed racing wheelchair.

Then in 1985 we met an Ontario wheelchair racer who had made his own chair. This wonderful man worked diligently with us to make a one-armed racing chair for Frank. It was one of the first one-arm racing chair to be made on the planet. This was the final piece in Frank’s puzzle for success. As a one-armed racer, Frank was bucking the odds, but now he was finally on a more even playing field with the technology.

Ms Suzanne Atkinson, a regional newspaper reporter, was actively following Frank’s success and wrote about his incredible journey. Her coverage resulted in many groups and individuals in the community generously donating money to purchase this chair and cover some of the expenses.

As Doug Wilton, the Canadian head coach/manager, said, “Frank is the greatest one-armed wheeler in the world, always competing against 2-armed wheelers.”

Frank’s local coach often commented that, “Frank’s accomplishments and success can only be truly appreciated by those who saw him race or competed against him. With his extreme competitive nature, Frank is truly a courageous Olympian.”

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND AWARDS

Represented Canada internationally from 1983-1986
June 1984- Olympic Year – International Games for the Disabled (now called the Paralympics)
4x 100 metre relay race (World Record 101 seconds) Gold Medal
60 metre sprint – 6th
200 metre sprint – 10th (disqualified for a lane violation in his heat)

1984 CP Provincial Games
60 metre sprint – gold (new record)
100 metre sprint – gold (new record)
200 metre sprint – gold (new record)
400 metre sprint – gold
Shotput - bronze

1985 Michigan State Championships for the Physically Disabled
60 metre sprint – gold
200 metre sprint – gold
400 metre sprint – gold
4x100 metre relay race – gold

1986 Cerebral Palsy World Championship Games – Gits, Belgium
4x100 metre relay race – gold
400 metre sprint – silver
100 metre sprint – bronze
Team Canada won the overall Medal count with 42 Gold Medals, 16 Silver Medals and 12 Bronze Medals

1982
Presented with a Championship Certificate from the Province of Ontario in recognition of being a Provincial Champion in the field of amateur sport

1984
Presented with a Sports Jacket emblazed with a crest of the Town of Cobourg and the Bicentennial flag from the Mayor of Cobourg and the Chamber of Commerce
Presented with an Ontario Championship Certificate from the Province of Ontario
Presented with an Achievement Award Certificate from the Province of Ontario for distinguished performance in the field of amateur sport

1985
Presented with a Certificate of International Achievement from Premier David Peterson, at the Ontario Provincial Amateur Sports Banquet

1986
Presented with a Certificate of World Achievement from Premier David Peterson, at the 20th Annual Sports Awards Banquet in recognition of distinguished performance in the field of amateur sport

1987
Presented with a Civic Award from the City of Peterborough
Presented with an International Achievement Award from the Premier of Ontario

1990
Inducted into the Ontario CP Sports Athletes “Hall of Fame”

2019
Inducted into the Cobourg and District Sports Hall of Fame

Sources: Suzanne Atkinson, reporter
   Doug Montgomery, Frank Mazza’s local coach
   Doug Wilton, Head Coach and Team Manager for Canada’s National Cerebral Palsy team (1979-2000)

Reviewed August 2020

In November of 1998, Dorothy Hampson, a local breast cancer survivor, read an article about the research of Don McKenzie, a Canadian sports medicine specialist at the University of British Columbia. Mr. McKenzie had shown that the sport of dragon boating was of great benefit to women like her, both physically and psychologically.

Dorothy decided to test the waters here in Cobourg to see if there would be support for her ideas of forming a dragon boat team for breast cancer survivors, so she placed an article in the local newspaper. Not only did she get responses from survivors, she also piqued the interest of two local business people who saw this as the start of a sport for everyone.

A key recruit was Jeremy Fowlie, a National-level paddler who lived in Cobourg and was looking for a new challenge, and coaching dragon boating fit the bill! The spring of 1999 saw the launch of the first dragon boat in the Cobourg Harbour. Three teams shared that inaugural boat: a breast cancer survivor team, known as the Survivor Thrivers, a mixed team, and a women’s team.

By the fall of 1999, after a successful first season, the two community teams decided to incorporate as a sports club, and the Cobourg Dragon Boat Club was born. The Survivor Thrivers formed their own charitable group, the Survivor Thriver Breast Cancer Survivor Society. In July, 2018, the Survivor Thrivers competed in the International Breast Cancer Paddlers Commission Championship held in Florence, Italy. There they placed 13th in a field of 126 teams

Over the first few years, the popularity of the sport and the club grew. At a highpoint, the club had upwards of 140 members or associate members, paddling on a variety of dragon boat teams including mixed and women’s teams. Paddlers ranged in age from 17 to 75. Teams participated in several festivals each year, usually including the Toronto International Dragon Boat Festival, the Belleville Festival and the Stratford Festival. With generous grants from local groups such as the Rotary Club of Cobourg and from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the club expanded its fleet to three dragon boats.

In 2000, the club decided to host a festival in the Cobourg Harbour and donate the proceeds to the Northumberland United Way. Since then, each year they have held a festival on the fourth Saturday in September. As of 2019, the Northumberland United Way Challenge the Dragon Festival had raised over $500,000.

In 2006, the club sent a Grand Masters (over 50 yrs) team, a women’s team and a men’s team to the Club Crew World Championship races in Toronto. Cobourg paddled against teams from many countries including Germany, China, the USA, Australia and the Philippines.

In 2010, the club formally changed its name to the Cobourg Dragon Boat and Canoe Club (CDBCC) to reflect the fact that it had expanded to add a new division of sprint racing in canoes and kayaks. The “Original 6” competitive paddlers were Isaac Clapp, Emily Jenkins, Mackenzie Jenkins, Kadan Johnson, Kate Saman, and Britany Saunders.

With a fleet of boats that include C1s, C2s, C4s (canoes for one, two or four paddlers); K1s, K2s, K4s (kayaks for one, two or four paddlers); and war canoes; the club now offered both recreational and competitive training to youth and adults in a variety of programs. Paddlers from the club compete in the Western Ontario Division of Canoe Kayak Canada. Within the first few years, the club had several paddlers qualify to paddle at the provincial and even national level.

In its second year, the new sprint club won it first Burgee (overall winners in a division or category) at the Ontario Championship for U15 Women. The U15 Women repeated at the next Ontario Championships. In total, Cobourg has won twelve Burgees since 2011, including some for U13 and para athletes. Since 2010, the sprint division paddlers have received over 80 medals at the Ontario Championship regatta.

Cobourg competed for the first time on the National stage in 2012 on Lake Banook, in Dartmouth. This venue provided valuable experience for the young club which it used the following year in Montreal, gaining its first points at the National Championships, a fifth-place finish in women’s 4-person canoe. Since then, Cobourg has had numerous individual and crew performances at the Canadian Championships.

In 2014, seven athletes from Cobourg represented Western Ontario at the Ontario Summer games. The year 2016 saw Cobourg have an athlete nominated to the Canmex International Regatta in Women’s single canoe. Five times, other Cobourg athletes have been nominated to the Ontario Regatta teams. In August 2017, the club successfully hosted its first regatta, the Western Ontario U11/U13 divisional championships.

More than 120 athletes completed in one-, two-, and four-person canoes and kayaks, as well as in a war canoe race.  The popularity of the CDBCC summer camp continues to grow.  Starting in 2010, two weeks were offered for residents in Northumberland to attend.  Since then it has grown to eight weeks and over 180 campers each year!  

Some of the club’s competitive National highlights include when Mackenzie Jenkins, Emily Jenkins, Brittany Saunders, & Kate Saman placed 5th at the 2014 Nationals in C4. In 2015, Kate Saman placed 9th in C1, Isaac Clapp placed 4th in K1 6000 m, and Isaac Clapp & Kadan Johnson placed 5th in K2. In 2016, Kate Saman was nominated to the Canmex team in C1.

Zoe Bergeron was chosen to compete in the regional round of RBC Training Ground competition in 2019. The RBC Training Ground is a talent identification and athlete funding program designed to uncover athletes with Olympic potential and provide them with the high-performance sport resources they need to achieve their podium dreams.
 

Two exceptional para-athletes have led the way for para-canoe in Cobourg and the province, Paige Fawcett and Aiden Cameron. Until they took up paddling kayaks, no other youth para-athletes competed in sprint racings. Coach Christine Proulx obtained the equipment needed to adapt racing kayaks to allow them to successfully compete.

Their courage and determination has led the way for other youth para-athletes to compete in sprint racing throughout Ontario. Paige and Aiden have won 7 burgees in para-canoe and paddle-all for CDBCC.  They have also been presented with numerous Gold Medals in singles and doubles para-canoe at the Provincial Championships.

The local club has done exceptionally well in the Masters division at the Canadian Championships (CanMas). The local masters paddlers first competed in CanMas in 2011 and came home with many medals including a silver in Novice war canoe (Kristine Hanley, Jacqueline Pennington, Michelle Driscoll, Jennifer Skinner, Christine Proulx, Darren Zoldy, Norm Clapp, Patti Aitken, Cox Jeremy Fowlie, and 6 members from other clubs), a silver in Men’s K2 (Jeremy Fowlie and Norm Clapp), and a bronze in Women’s K4 (Kristin Hanley, Jacqueline Pennington-Juranics, Michelle Driscoll, and Jennifer Skinner). Jeremy Fowlie also earned a gold medal as part of Burloak’s war canoe crew. The following year, in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Christine Proulx and June Jenkins earned a silver in doubles kayak.

In 2015, Jeremy Fowlie won a bronze in singles C1 and in 2016 Jeremy Fowlie, Mike Fekete, and 2 Richmond Hill kayakers won a silver medal in K4.  Michael Fekete and his wife, Beryl Green, have won numerous medals over the past 5 years for Cobourg in singles, doubles, and fours. Michael Fekete came to Canada in the mid 70’s after escaping from Hungary. He was the first person Jeremy Fowlie contacted when starting Cobourg’s youth program.

He is a distributor of canoes and kayaks from Hungary and sold CDBCC their first set of boats, in 2010, stating, “Pay me when you can, it is more important that kids paddle. I can get paid later.” Mike has also donated over 20 boats in the past 10 years. He was made an honorary member of the CDBCC, which is why he and his wife, Beryl, paddle under CDBCC colours at Nationals. Mike has won 5-6 medals each year in CanMas. He is currently racing in the 70+ age division.

Since 2012, 21 CDBCC athletes have been crowned provincial champions, taking home 57 Gold Medals. CDBCC paddlers have won a whopping 154 Medals at the Provincial Championships - 112 in crew boats and 42 in singles.

Four young CDBCC members experienced further successes after moving on to other clubs. In 2016, Kadan Johnson began training with the Richmond Hill Canoe Club.  He has many provincial awards but Nationally placed 3rd in the men's U17 K1 6000m, in 2016, placed 2nd in the men’s U17 K4 1000 in 2016, and most notably won a National gold medal in the men's U17 K1 6000 in 2017. In 2017, Emma Zoldy also moved to the Richmond Hill Canoe Club. After the 2017 season, Emma and her teammates were distinguished by the Richmond Hill Sports Hall of Fame as Sport Champions for being the best overall women’s kayak team in Ontario.

Throughout the years, Emma has accumulated 27 Ontario Championship medals and has competed at 6 National Championships. At the 2019 Nationals, she finished 5th in the K1 200m and 6th in the K1 1000m events. She also placed 4th in the K2 200m and earned her first National medal in the K4 500 m event with a 2nd place finish. A couple of years ago she was chosen for the Ontario Tour team, travelled with the team and competed in Canada Cup regattas. Emma is currently on the Ontario Development Team.

Twins, Emily and Mackenzie Jenkins, moved to the Mississauga Canoe Club in 2014. At the 2014 Nationals, Emily won the bronze medal in the Sr. women’s 1000m C2 and then went on to win a gold medal by breaking a 113-year-old Canoe Kayak national record, with her teammates, for being the youngest crew in Canadian history to win the Junior Women’s C4 race. Mackenzie Jenkins placed 5th in the U17 women’s K4 race at these same Nationals.

At the 2015 Nationals, Emily repeated her bronze performance in the Senior Women’s 500 m IC4 race, a silver in the Sr. Women’s C2, a bronze in the U17 mixed war canoe, and a bronze in the U19 mixed war canoe. Mackenzie reached the podium for the first time in National competition, bringing home the bronze medal in the U17 war canoe.

Coaching has been instrumental in the success of the program. Dragon Boat coaches have included Jeremy Fowlie (1999-present), Haigh Gledhill (2000 – 2017), and Bruce Bellaire (2016 – 2019).

Sprint Youth coaches have included Jeremy Fowlie (2010-present), Norm Clapp (2011- 2014), Dave William (2011-2014), Isaac Clapp (2015-2017), Kate Saman (2015 – 2018), and Kamryn Davis (2019). Para-canoe coaches have been Chris Proulx (2013 – 2019), Alicia Zoldy (2014 – 2016), and Kate Saman (2015 – 2018). Ontario Summer Games: Western Ontario Team Coaches have included locals Norm Clapp (2014) and Jeremy Fowlie (2014, 2016). Jeremy Fowlie was also named Ontario Development Team coach in 2014 and 2015.

The CDBCC also gives back to the community, offering free sessions to various groups in Northumberland, including Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Youth-In-Policing, High School Youth Programs, and Community Living.  The Cobourg Dragon Boat and Canoe Club has enabled thousands of residents to enjoy various paddling disciplines in the Cobourg Harbour over the past 20 years.  Many people and organizations have made it possible for the CDBCC to thrive in Cobourg - our participants, service clubs, and support from Town Council.

The Cobourg Dragon Boat and Canoe Club has become a very prominent and successful training ground for both recreational and competitive dragon boaters, canoers, and kayakers.

Updated August 2020