When custodian Cindy Turner-Gulycz isn’t cleaning at Howe Sound Secondary, she’s helping Team Canada’s dragonboaters clean up at world competitions.
Sitting in her dragon boat with her teammates at the start line, Turner-Gulycz was so focused on her goal that she couldn’t even hear cheers from the hundreds on the sidelines.
With the finish line in their sights and the rival Australian team to their side, the Canadian paddlers managed to pull hard to the finish.
In the end, Turner-Gulycz, a 57-year-old Squamish resident, was able to stand with her teammates at the podium with a gold medal.
Last month’s victory was hard-fought. The Canadian and Australian teams had taken turns beating each other during the International Dragonboat Federation Championship in Kunming, China.
Both commonwealth teams took two wins off each other, but Canada managed to get the last word during the 500-metre race.
“We just had to beat the Australians,” said Turner-Gulycz in an interview.
“They were the biggest competition for us.”
After taking losses from the Aussies, the Turner-Gulycz’s 20-person team decided enough was enough.
“Our final race was the 500, and we just knew this was ours,” she said.
“We’re not going to let it go,” Turner-Gulycz said, recalling how the team felt at that moment.
And they didn’t. They held on to first place by 0.004 seconds — a remarkable nail-biter of a finish.
“I was so focused on the start line, anxiously waiting for the horn to go,” wrote Turner-Gulycz in a followup email. “I kept my eyes on the finish line and concentrated on each stroke to be the best one every single time. I just wanted to execute and put everything I had into my paddle. I thought [about] all my hard work [and] training. I was not going to give it away.”
Altogether, Canada’s senior B team, which is the division for women between 50 to 60 years old, managed to finish the competition with two gold medals and two silvers.
The road to victory for Turner-Gulycz required a lot of work.
After her adult sons left home, she started taking an interest in dragonboating.
It’s been seven years since she picked up the paddle.
Last year, she managed to qualify for the national team after taking part in training and selection camps in places like Vancouver, Florida and Montreal.
Time trials and fitness testing were just some of the hurdles Turner-Gulycz had to overcome in order to make the cut.
Afterwards, she was given a year to train with her local team to get ready for the competition in Kunming.
She said her friends, family, colleagues and coaches were a big help and expressed gratitude for their assistance.
Often, Turner-Gulycz found herself putting in about three to four days in the gym each week.
Then she also had to put time on the water almost every day.
But regardless of the hard work, her passion seems to have carried her through.
“This was mine,” she wrote to The Chief.
