Balmy Beach Canoe Club’s Dave Moore honoured with Russ Dunn Award from Canoe Kayak Canada

By JESSICA SHACKLETON

If he’s not paddling on Lake Ontario, Dave Moore can often be found looking out on it from the windows of the Balmy Beach Club.

Moore is the winner of the 2025 Russ Dunn Award from Canoe Kayak Canada.

Russ Dunn was the founder of Canadian Masters Paddling (CanMas) and a lifelong member of the Balmy Beach Club. Dunn died in 2014, and the award named after him is given to someone who reflects his spirit of dedication and impact on the sport. CanMas athletes are age 25 and older, and compete in a number of different age category divisions all the way up to age 85 and older.

Moore has been a longtime of the club as well, both as a young paddler and now as a coach.

“I grew up with Russ around my life. He was highly respected by my family. He was a pure gentleman, he really was,” said Moore. “Kind man but fair. That’s the key to this, it has to be equal for everybody. It doesn’t matter your ability, just show up and be ready, and we’re going to support you. We’re really glad to see that his spirit is alive at our club through me and all our coaches.”

The Russ Dunn Award was announced at the CanMas Nationals in Regina last summer, and a celebration for Moore was held at the Balmy Beach Club in late 2025.

When it was announced he had won the award, Moore said he was out fishing so he didn’t learn the news until he got back in and he was told his phone had been ringing. It was everybody calling him to say congratulations.

“I was very honoured. I look at the trophy downstairs and see the names of the people on it and they’re just incredible people. Just to be included on that is an honour, anything to do with Russ is an honour,” said Moore. “It’s nice to be recognized but I do it because I love it. It’s about meeting new people and welcoming new members.”  

He said he couldn’t have done it without his partner Tracy Grant and Balmy Beach’s paddling head coach Hunter George.

Moore has been a member of the Balmy Beach Club for more than 50 years and has been paddling with the canoe club for almost as long. He started with squash before getting into paddling and quickly becoming hooked.

“I’m biased but there’s nothing like being on the water. In the boats we’re in, they’re very tippy, so you can only be aware of you and your surroundings and everything you had going on in your day is gone. There’s something calming about it,” he said.

“Nothing’s fixed, everything’s moving. You’ve got to roll with the water and keep yourself up. It keeps me in the right frame of mind all the time.”

The Balmy Beach Canoe Club has been operating since 1905, and its mandate is to provide a safe and enjoyable, recreational, and sometimes competitive environment for members of all ages and abilities.

The club sent paddlers to the 1924 Olympics in Paris, the first time canoeing was included in the Games. One hundred years later, back in Paris, Balmy Beach athletes Natalie Stott and Nick Matveev competed in kayaking.

The club has also claimed many titles at provincial and national championships over the years.

Moore has been heavily involved with the Toronto Island Regatta for the past few years and can often be found chatting with his opponents, even giving them advice.

“People say, ‘Why do you do that?’ It’s so I have someone to chase. Sometimes I catch them, sometimes I don’t, but that’s not about me winning. I’m only as good as the people chasing me,” he said. “It’s all about working together towards the common goal.”

When Moore was a younger paddler, he always looked up to the coaches who were the perfect gentlemen of the club. Seeing how they passed down this attitude affected his life deeply, said Moore. Now, through coaching, he gets to be an influence on the next generation.

“That’s what Russ was all about: participating and showing up and being ready. It’s a very challenging sport; you fail a lot, and you fail by falling in. Our whole role is we pick you up, give you a big hug, and do it again,” he said.

The Balmy Beach Canoe Club has a Learn to Paddle Program, where people can try it out for a month. This is a fairly new addition to the club and has led to more master paddlers participating, said Moore.

“The most important characteristic you can have is confidence in yourself. Confidence that you’re willing to do things. Canoe Kayak does teach you that. To have confidence to show up, confidence to get back in,” he said. “Our club and our sport is like that. It doesn’t matter if you’re 12 or 60. That’s what life is all about, keeping people confident in themselves.” 

Living so close to Lake Ontario is a privilege that Moore said he takes advantage of. He always encourages people to go out onto the lake, and they are quickly enamoured by the feeling Moore loves so much.

“It’s a great way to start your day. There’s nothing like it; it’s powerful. Just getting out there,” he said. “Water is everything to me.”

To learn more about CanMas, please visit https://sprintnationals.canoekayak.ca/canmas/

For more on the Balmy Beach Canoe Club, please visit https://www.balmybeachcanoe.com/