It’s 6am, and I already have a soaker. I forgot my paddling booties again, and now my foot is going to be cold and wet all the way to work. Two hours in a canoe with a wet foot, and no cup of coffee within reach to ease my suffering. If I was in my car, on the bus, or even on my bike I’d have a cup of coffee, but there are no cup holders in this boat.
A piece of gear like a cup holder would really come in handy for the 6am start of a two hour commute by canoe into downtown Calgary along the cold, green Bow River. If they don’t make cup holders that attach to the gunwales of a canoe, they should. It would be the perfect piece of gear for the annual MEC Calgary “Canute.”
Allow me to explain. Canute is the combination of the words “commute” and “canoe.” We commute to work in canoes. We are proud canuters, and crafty wordsmiths. Every Canute, despite my whining about wet feet and the lack of coffee, ends up being my best morning commute of the year.
Since 2007, the Canute is how our staff in Calgary launch the annual Commuter Challenge. It started humbly with me and Kyle, our Inventory Team Leader, deciding to do something different during Commuter Challenge week in an effort to get the Commuter Challenge some media attention. Aside from it being a great way to start the day, our portage through downtown to the store was worth the effort alone for all the funny looks people were trying not to make. I guess it would be far too unprofessional to lift your head from your smartphone to acknowledge the dude standing beside you at the crosswalk with the canoe on his head.
From its small beginnings, the annual Canute has grown into quite the event. As many as thirty of our staff take part each year, and the “vehicles” range from canoes and kayaks to stand up paddleboards and pool toys. The bar keeps getting raised, of course, and every year someone pushes the limits along with our perceptions of what a “vehicle” is and what it means to “commute.” I started out by paddling a canoe into work, and later on fellow staffer Joel shows up with an inflatable alligator.
Last weekend, we headed to the water once again for the Commuter Challenge. Without coffee cup holders and probably without neoprene paddling booties, but on our way to work via the most Canadian mode of transportation you can find (aside from maybe the dogsled). A symbol synonymous with our past propelling us through an event that is all about our future. There is something profoundly poetic about that. Not half as poetic as Joel getting to work on the back of a child’s water toy, but poetic nonetheless.
Commuter Challenge is an event that lives up to its name. It challenges us to consider how we get to and from work, and to travel in a way that reduces our environmental impact. Even though that does sound like a bit of work, I know an inflatable alligator that considers it the highlight of his year. A challenge is what you make it, and MEC Calgary staff make it a couple of fun hours on the water in the morning before work. We just have to figure out a way to make the return trip a little easier. That upstream trip home may be best left to the salmon.
Written by MEC staffer Brad Clute, Regional Sustainability and Community Coordinator for British Columbia, Alberta and Prairie Regions.
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