Local Teens Paddle Toward Olympic Dreams

Ashley Platt’s and Anna Cashion’s pathways to the paddle are remarkably similar. Both teenagers stumbled upon sprint canoe racing by attending a week-long summer camp in Gig Harbor. Both knew little about the sport. And now both have Olympic aspirations.

Platt, a 15-year-old homeschooler who lives in Lakebay, and Cashion, a 14-year-old who is getting ready to start her freshman year at Peninsula High School, are preparing to compete nationally and internationally as two of the fastest Under 16 paddlers in the country.

Sprint canoe racing combines speed, strength, balance and control. Platt, Cashion and their competitors kneel on one knee in their narrow, lightweight canoes and use a single-bladed paddle to propel themselves through calm waters. Typical sprint races cover distances of 200, 500 or 1,000 meters and Platt and Cashion both race individually, in pairs, or with a team of four.

Cashion got involved in the sport in 2019 and Platt a year later, both with the Gig Harbor Canoe and Kayak Racing Team. For Cashion, she was just looking for a fun summer activity to do with friends. For Platt, the discovery of the sport was a silver lining during the COVID-19 pandemic. When most activities shut down, the open water sport was perfect for campers to learn while maintaining a safe distance from each other. For both girls, it’s a sport where competitors literally and figuratively just have to get their feet wet to learn.

“I wondered why they weren’t giving them more stable boats,” remembered Ashley’s dad, Bob Platt, who admitted he was ignorant about the sport at first. “They were falling in like crazy.”

But that’s what got Ashley excited about it. “It was very difficult, and I wanted to see how good I could do at it.”

After their respective summer camps Platt and Cashion signed up for the team. That’s when it stopped being summer camp and started being work.

“The first clue I got that this wasn’t just some recreational activity is when she came and told us they had to wear heart monitors,” Bob said.

The training is rigorous. Both are out on the water twice a day three times a week, and at least once a day on two other days. Then there’s strength training at the gym three days a week.

“Every practice we take hundreds of strokes and it’s about making each stroke your best stroke, so you build that muscle memory to perfect it,” said Cashion.

The sport runs in the family for both girls. Platt’s sister, Danielle, competed last month at the Under 23 World Championships in Bulgaria. Anna’s brother, Josh, who will be a senior at PHS in the fall, is a two-time Under 16 national champion in the sport. Inspired by their daughters, Platt’s parents have taken up canoeing, and Bob said he went from knowing nothing about the sport to now serving as the racing team’s board president and running a YouTube channel (@gigharborpaddling) to help others learn about it.

Although they started a year apart, the two quickly gravitated toward each other, and the camaraderie became as important as the competition. “We became best friends almost right away,” Cashion said. “Our coaches noticed that and put us in a (canoe) together. Now we’ve been paddling together for so long that just we move so fast.”

The girls put that speed to the test in a handful of regattas each year, ultimately to prepare them for the end-of-summer national and international competitions. The pair is heading to Atlanta this month for the USA Canoe/Kayak Nationals, and in September, they’re heading to Szeged, Hungary, for the Olympic Hopes Regatta. This four-day competition is for young paddlers to get some experience on the international stage, mimicking the environment of a future Summer Olympics. Seattle native Nevin Harrison, who won a gold medal in sprint canoeing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, competed at the Olympic Hopes Regatta in 2017 and 2018. Platt and Cashion hope to follow in her footsteps, eyeing potential appearances in the 2028 and 2032 Summer Olympics.

Platt doesn’t sweat the pressure. “I go about these like I have horse blinders on: I focus on my mental cues. I know what I have to do, and I just go out there and do it.”

The girls will have a bit of a travel reprieve next year. The 2025 USA Canoe/Kayak Nationals takes place in Seattle next summer.