One member of the Ridge Canoe and Kayak Club has offered to donate $10,000 to help rebuild the flat-water sprint course at Whonnock Lake.
Richard Rosenthal, vice-commodore of the club, has asked that the course be named the Laura Rosenthal Race Course at Whonnock Lake, in honour of his late wife, for a period of 10 years, and that two signs be posted at the course in east Maple Ridge.
Rosenthal approached the city recreation department last November with the offer to replace the course, which would include materials and an anchoring system, as well as the starting dock for the nine-lane course.
The old course already has been removed from the lake and the new one would be in a new location, farther from the beach area.
The Ridge Canoe and Kayak Club trains recreational and competitive paddlers in canoeing, kayaking, and dragon boat paddling.
A staff report notes that the club doesn’t currently have an alternative funding source.
Maple Ridge council, at its Tuesday workshop meeting, voted to send the request on to its regular council meeting on March 12.
Parks and facilities director David Boag clarified that the name applies to the competition sprint course only, and doesn’t mean the lake is being renamed.