Maddi Leblanc's On Board has raised more than $30,000 for brain cancer research in the last five years, but that's not what the annual event is all about.

"As great as it is to raise funds, the day is about remembering," said the 22-year-old Welland resident. "I actually don't ask participants to raise anything."

She started the event to honour and remember two friends - Lynn Lambert and Julia Turner - who passed away from cancer eight years ago.

"My good friend Lynn was my next door neighbour. She was 37 when she passed due to a rare form of skin cancer in March 2011. Then, months later, in December 2011 my good Julia, who I went to high school with, passed away due to a rare form of brain cancer."

Leblanc said both deaths hit her very hard. Turner was only 15 when she died.

"I thought about what I could do to give back to two people who meant so much to the Welland community. Both were big players in it."

Lambert was a teacher at Welland Centennial Secondary School and Turner was an active volunteer with various community groups.

"They are the main reason why I started On Board," she said Saturday after a quick paddle in the rain at Welland International Flatwater Centre on her stand-up paddleboard (SUP).

Leblanc said not long after her friends passed, she fell in love with SUPs.

The passion for the sport matched her love for her friends and that's when she decided to launch On Board.

On Board was launched in 2014, and with more than 100 people watching her from the banks of the Welland Recreational Canal, Leblanc paddled by herself from the flatwater centre to the community boathouse at the north end of the waterway and back.

She raised just more than $4,000 on that 10-kilometre paddle and said seeing that people along the former canal banks was a spectacular feeling.

"After the first year, I couldn't stop hosting the event. I just wanted to keep it going and now we're in year six. Last year, we had 89 paddlers and this year I want to hit 100."

As the event has grown, Leblanc said it also now remembers Dalton Jacques, a popular member of the Welland Tigers minor-midget A hockey team who died in 2016, and McKenna Modler, a young woman from Gananoque who fought brain cancer.

"The day is about them, too."

On Board takes place Sunday, July 21 at Welland Community Boathouse, 108 Thorold Rd., from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and people can still register for it, even up to 10 a.m. that morning.

"People are free to make whatever donation they can, but it's not required. I just want people to come out and have a great time on the water."

Before the leisurely five-kilometre paddle from the boathouse to Lincoln Street and back, people can watch an Ontario SUP Series race and see the competitive side of the sport.

Leblanc said On Board is open to people of all skill levels to any type of paddle craft.

For more information or to register, visit www.maddileblanc.com/on-board.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Nathaniel.Johnson@niagaradailies.com

905-684-7251 | @DaveJTheTrib