Get wet on The Strand at the Townsville Outriggers Canoe Club

Canoeing is a fun way to get fit and is an all-over body fitness workout, despite people thinking it only tones the arms.

Fiona Hanson is a member of the Townsville Outriggers Canoe Club. PICTURE: MATT TAYLOR.

Members at the Outriggers Canoe Club not only get wet but learn the art of paddling while having fun.

For the club’s promotions manager Fiona Hanson, canoeing on The Strand feels like she is at one with the sea.

Ms Hanson has been part of the club for three years and said the paddlers were a great mix of professional and novice canoers.

“We are fun loving people, we are a combination of competitive and social paddlers,” she said.

“We are as competitive as you want to be, we have some people here that have come into the sport 10 years ago and just love to paddle.”

Started 30 years ago and calling The Strand home for 20 years, the club has 70 members and caters for paddlers from 30 years old up to 70 years and over.

The club owns various canoes, including single-seat, two-man and six-man versions, allowing members to set their own pace and develop their stride. Ms Hanson said members were always be chasing the finish line and the adrenaline rush that comes with canoeing once they picked up a paddle and found their perfect seat.

Fiona is a member of the Townsville Outriggers Canoe Club. The club's canoes are a familiar sight on The Strand. PICTURE: MATT TAYLOR.

“It is so much fun working together in a team and getting a feel for the water and there is nothing better than winning a race,” she said.

Ms Hanson said canoeing was a fun way to get fit and was an all-over body fitness workout despite people thinking that it only toned the arms.

“A lot of the strength is from your whole core and butt, not just your upper body or arms,” she said.

“It is better than sweating it out in a gym.”

The outrigger club is an advocate for protecting the ocean, with Ms Hanson saying all the members considered the sea sacred.

Ms Hanson said the canoe club had various routes they followed for each training session, with the shortest paddle 8km and the longest paddle 20km.

“On a perfect day we go to ‘the drink’ as I call it, so out Cape Cleveland way, which is south, and we go out through the marker channels,” she said.

“Other times we head towards Maggie but it depends on the weather and being safe.”

Join the club

Contact: Fiona Hanson

Contact number: 0412 611 994

E-mail: [e-mail]

Address: Diagonally opposite The Watermark Townsville, The Strand

Membership: $280

Originally published as Get wet on The Strand at the Townsville Outriggers Canoe Club