Brown named province’s best

Cambridge para canoeist earns Support4Sport senior male athlete of the year recognition

No, Ben Brown, it is not a dream.

The 35-year-old Cambridge resident won the Nova Scotia senior male athlete of the year award May 27 at the Support4Sport Awards in Halifax.

“As I said during my speech, ‘I hope this is not a dream and, if it is, don’t pinch me right now,’” Brown said in a May 29 telephone interview.

Brown was paralyzed from the chest down following an ATV motocross accident in 2006. After 12 years in wheelchair racing, Brown made the move to para canoe in August 2021.

In his first full season on the water, Brown finished second in the VL1 men’s 200-metre race at the Pan American Canoe Sprint Championships at Lake

Banook in Dartmouth and earned a fourth-place finish at the world championships, which were also hosted at Lake Banook.

He also won two national titles and was named the Atlantic Division of Canoe Kayak Canada’s para canoe athlete of year.

He said being named the province’s senior male athlete of the year was a huge honour for him and represented great recognition for para sport.

“Saturday night, I was left pretty much speechless,” Brown said, noting, “I am not a man of few words.”

Brown said he hoped he might someday win the award but to earn it in his first full season competing in para canoe meant a lot to him. He thanked his coaches and supporters who helped him learn and improve in the sport.

Athletics' Andrew Peverill (Lower Sackville) and snowboard's Liam Moffatt (Londonderry) were also nominated in the senior male category.

“When I heard my name, I was completely blown away,” Brown said, recalling being named the award winner. “It’s an amazing feeling.”

Brown said the recognition gives him confidence but also motivates him for the upcoming season. He is getting ready for the beginning of his sprint season May 27 at Lake Banook for the Team Atlantic trials. He also noted the world championship trials in Montreal were less than a

month away.

The worlds are in Germany this year and the Pan-American championships are in the Dominican Republic.