Board of Directors
We would like to introduce the current Board Members. Our mandate is to promote and support recreational paddling by providing educational and social opportunities to all members. Our board would like to hear from you. Questions, concerns or comments…you can either email the club directly or get in touch personally with any of our board members.
Tina Barzo – President
Email: tinabarzo@hotmail.com
Originally from Ontario, where she paddled the iconic lakes and rivers of the great Canadian shield, Tina moved west in 2001 and has been a club member for the past 16+ years. She usually paddles one of her two Bell solo canoes, most of the time with her trusty sidekick Bosco, and she also owns and paddles a tandem Mad River Explorer with hubby or whoever will jump in with her.
In addition to paddling many of the canoe club trips multiple times, Tina ventured on a Nahanni River trip (2016), Wind River in the Yukon (2018), and Keele River (2022) and all three were challenges and highlights of her paddling life! Tina is recently embarking on a new chapter as the owner of “Women Who Paddle,” an online community of amazing and inspiring women paddlers around the world!
Her full-time job is Leader of Volunteer Engagement for Parks Canada in Banff National Park and she lives in Canmore. Tina looks forward to serving the club on the board, paddling with new and old friends in the Bow Valley and beyond, and honing her canoe tripping skills as well as sharing experiences with others.
Kris Major – Vice-President
I’ve always liked all kinds of outdoor activities, but when I first joined Bow Waters over 20 years ago, I fell in love with river canoeing. Later these paddling trips also included lakes and sea using both canoes and kayaks. Bow Waters is a really great club where people can meet, learn new skills and find great trips to go on. I hope I can help the club become even better and looking forward to getting out on the water lots in the coming year.
Laura Rider – Past-President
Paddling came into my life at the age of 14 when I heard from friends at school that there is a canoe club nearby. Soon after I joined Bow Waters Canoe Club, I participated in the flat water racing team, competing in voyageur, war boat, C-1, C-2, K- 1 to 4. And the family fun regattas were jousting and gunwale bobbing; these held during the July 1 Forest Lawn community activities.
Accepted as one of the family members in the club, I thrived in this connected setting, growing up while learning how to river paddle, cross country ski, how to build a sauna or an oven in the ground during canoe camping trips plus the opportunities of exploring and caring for our land and water God gave us.
It gives me great joy to see people out of their homes enjoying the outdoors. My paddling experiences have and still include family outings to group adventures on lakes and rivers. The joy of moving through the water, observing the habitat, instructing /learning stroke improvement, exploring a river channel or the quietness of a lake adds joy to my heart. Watch for the white Rocky Mtn Crusier, also known as one of Ted’s boats.
Evan Jones –
I have been a club member since 2004. I am a tandem paddler, usually with my wife, Fiona. Our paddling skills and enjoyment of the sport have improved greatly through the mentoring, courses and boat rentals offered by the club. I really enjoy attending and coordinating the multi-day club trips. Together with the skills and friends that we have made on club trips we are able to do a number of classic northern Canadian canoe trips most years. I served on the board as Treasurer from 2014 to 2016, shortly after retiring from many years of running my own business. The BWCC treasurer position is a quite challenging, I will try and give it my best.
Jude Williams – Secretary
Growing up in a military family, Jude has lived across Canada: from the Yukon to Newfoundland. The majority of her life has been spent in Calgary. She is ‘Mom’ to two young men. Her introduction to BWCC was through her kids’ summer paddling camps.
A member of BWCC since 2019, she admits to being more comfortable on land than water.
While cycling is a mainstay in her life (her beloved ‘wheels’ are 40 years young), she is a regular AQ Outdoors customer continually benefitting from their graduated approach to kayak instruction and emphasis on safety. Looking ahead to retirement (2025?), she has a 12′ Oldtown Sorrento whose crossover capabilities align with her paddling goals of finishing each excursion safely.
Simon Kerkhof – Member Representative
Simon started paddling with bow waters when he was 3 years old with his parents, doing overnight lakes and rivers trips. In the past years he has been getting into white water Paddling. With weekly meetings at Harvey passage and the great support and knowledge of the members he has gotten into Solo canoeing. Simon enjoys the outdoors not just through paddling trips with the club but through mountain biking, backcountry skiing, cross country skiing and climbing as well. As a member representative on the board Simon hopes to help the club reach out to new and current members and share the experience of canoeing to all.
I first discovered canoeing and my love of the outdoors when I was 17yrs old and had the opportunity to be a part of the Ontario Junior Ranger program. As a part of the program we had to go on a multi-day canoe trip in Northern Ontario. From then on, I wanted to do more and have been going on outdoor adventures since then. I moved my family out west in 2013 and joined the club a year later. Going on 8 years with the club, we have made some lifelong friends and gone on some epic paddling adventures.Marie Weingartshofer – Member Representative
I grew up in Nova Scotia and had very little experience on moving water. My first river canoe trip was in Northern Ontario during university. I swam twice on that trip. When I moved to Calgary, I joined the Calgary Ski Club and through some of their members, was introduced to Bow Waters. I took my first lesson before a trip on the Milk and was glad as it helped me when I got hung up on a rock and I knew what to do! I’ve been a member since 2006 and have enjoyed the many BWCC benefits including solo lessons, instruction at Harvie Passage, wilderness first aid and white-water safety courses. The club discounts are fun too. I also love to hike, x-country ski and practice yoga. I’m looking forward to contributing to the club as a member of the board.