Birthdate: June 1, 1998
Hometown: Pembroke, ON
Sport: Freestyle K1, OC1, Squirt Boat
Kalem has been paddling for about 6 years and thought this was a sport that would be fun to continue with considering the Ottawa River is only 15 minutes from his house. He participated in the Keener Program offered by Ottawa Kayak School for a few years and was coached by some of the best paddlers in the World. He found himself on the Canadian Junior Freestyle team in 2012 and competed at World’s in 2013 in North Carolina. He had a great time and finished out the week in 13th place and top ranked Canadian at the competition.
This past year , Kalem took part in the Canada Cup Pre-World’s / Canadian Team Trials and placed third over all and second in Canada. He finds it very exciting to be part of the team especially because his river will host the 2015 ICF World’s Freestyle Kayaking competition on the Ottawa River. Another special part of this event while be that his brother Quinton will also being competing as he finished first at the Canada Cup. Quinton has been his paddling partner since day one and they head out each Spring as soon as the ice is off the river and paddle into the Fall till they can’t feel their fingers.
Kalem is pumped for World’s and is looking forward to training hard and being as ready as possible to compete and to make the Ottawa Valley proud.
Sponsors: Titan, Level 6, Hunt Club Volkswagen
