The deluge of rain did nothing to stop skilled paddlers from across the Okanagan from making an even bigger splash. 

The 2024 Freshwater Challenge took place at Kin Beach in Vernon on Sunday, June 30. 

Teams raced their boats through eight laps of a five kilometre course. 

Three teams competed, hailing from the Kelowna Paddling Centre (KPC), Vernon Paddling Centre (VPC) and Chilliwack's Sudden Impact Paddling Club. 

"This was a restart of sorts, as we had to cancel last year's event due to wildfire smoke," said Kimm Mitchell, race director. "We had a great turnout."

KPC had three crews take part, with the Muscle and Men squad coming in first, with a time of three hours, 17 minutes and 46 seconds. 

In second was Kelowna's Plums and Prunes team, who finished 13 minutes and 18 seconds behind. 

The Water Monsters of Vernon took bronze, a further 27 minutes behind first, while fourth went to Aquaholics of Kelowna and fifth to Kekoa Spirit in Chilliwack.