By Farrah Philpot
Kevin Tobin was just a kid who enjoyed paddling at summer camp. But what started out as a fun summertime activity quickly turned into a full-time passion.
Now, three years after starting his career, the Special Olympics athlete is set to compete at the 2025 ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships, which run from Sept. 4-7 in Hungary.
At age 14, Tobin joined the Ottawa River Canoe Club as a recreational paddler. He quickly fell in love with the sport and decided he wanted to take it more seriously, asking the club’s founder, L.A. Schmidt, to help him be in races and regattas.
He then began weight-training in the winter under the guidance of fitness coach Andrea Nicholls.
“Kevin is a very self-motivated athlete, and he’s committed to doing the best he can,” signals Sean Tobin, Kevin’s father.
Schmidt echoes that despite the challenges Tobin faces with autism and ADHD, he is always motivated to do his best.
“I believe Kevin drives his own desire and his own initiative, and takes that initiative to do what he wants to do,” indicates Schmidt. “He always says he believes that [good] things are going to happen.”
Tobin qualified to represent Canada at the World Championships thanks to his strong performance in the K-1 5,000 metres at the national team trials earlier this summer in Montreal.
There was some doubt about whether he’d actually be able to make the trip to Hungary due to funding, but up stepped local real estate agent Stephanie Mols, who has family members with autism.
The sponsorship has been instrumental in pushing his career forward and making more opportunities available, including his recent trip to the Canoe Kayak Canada Sprint National Championships in Regina before he left for Hungary.
In Regina, Tobin won three gold medals and a silver to power ORCC to its first-ever National PaddleAll Burgee as the division’s top Canadian club.
That came on the heels of an ORCC sweep of the women’s, men’s and overall Special Olympics burgees at the Ontario Championships.
“We’re really proud,” underlines Schmidt, whose club integrates the Special Olympics paddlers’ training with other club members. “The kids all felt that was a part of who they were, and they all contributed.”
After the provincial sweep, Tobin asked to take one of the burgees home for the night, so excited was he to have won it with his team.
“We’ve never done that. That’s the best performance for our little club,” adds Schmidt, stressing that while they are not really a small club, there are several considerably larger ones in Ontario, and that they’d already been impressed to come close to them in the standings in past years.
At the nationals, Tobin won medals in each of his four events. Tobin topped the K-1 men’s PaddleAll 200 m touring race, while ORCC teammate Mustafa Hussein edged him for the top spot in the K-1 men’s PaddleAll 200 m.
Tobin and Hussein paired up to handily win their K-2 200 m final, while Tobin earned his final victory in the K-2 unified men’s 200 m with Blake Preuss.
Hussein has become a friend of Tobin’s, and while he won’t be going to Hungary with Tobin, he will be cheering him on. And Tobin is confident he will feel his support from across the world.
“He has been supporting me every single day, but I’m going very far away from him, to Hungary; he’s not going with me. I’m going to be the only one going,” notes Tobin.
“They could try calling and supporting me that way,” continues Tobin, optimistic about how his team at home will continue their support.
Tobin will be racing alongside a fellow Canadian from Peterborough in the K-2 10 km event at the marathon worlds. Schmidt highlights that the whole Ottawa River Canoe Club will be cheering them both on.
Tobin’s biggest wish is that his success, along with his team’s, will show the world just how hard Special Olympics athletes work, and that they are just as competitive and skilled as the other competitors.
“I want to show the world that S.O. can do well and we can be stronger, competitive and just as fast as them,” the 17-year-old explains proudly.
This article is part of the Ottawa Sports Pages’ Inclusion in Sport series. Read more about local sport inclusion initiatives at: OttawaSportsPages.ca/Ottawa-Sports-Pages-Inclusion-In-Sport-Series/.
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