Passion for paddling
December 02, 2025
BEDFORD, NH – “I hope you guys know just how much of a difference you’ve made to all of our lives,” Eren Pils-Martin said through tears to Bill Roberts.
Roberts was the founding coach of the Swift Water Racers, later to become the Swift Water Paddlers, which Pils-Martin joined as a Girl Scout and later coached herself. They were gathered with other members of the Paddlers to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Girl Scout canoe-racing team at Camp Kettleford on Nov. 15.
A couple dozen former and current canoe racers reconnected over hot chocolate, coffee and cake, reminiscing about the races they competed in and the memories of their times together.
The Swift Water Paddlers is a seasonal activity that Girl Scouts from grades 6-12 participate in from March through May, culminating in two races - in the Great Smith River Canoe and Kayak Race in New Hampshire and the General Clinton Canoe Regatta in New York. They’ve taken home a plethora of trophies, including this spring’s first-place finish in the 15-mile endurance race in New York. The vast majority of paddlers start out having never been in a boat but quickly learn the basics of canoeing and then how to run sprints, relays, whitewater races, and in-water canoe switches while building lifelong friendships.
“It is fun and exciting to compete against Girl Scout and Boy Scout teams from across New England,” said Carrie Green Loszewski, vice president of engagement in the council and former team member. “The General Clinton Regatta Scout races will celebrate their 50th anniversary this coming year. Our team is honored to have participated every year.”
Patricia K. Mellor, CEO of Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains, thanked everyone who came, noting all those who coached or paddled over the past 50 years.
“It’s really important to us for this team to keep going,” she told the crowd. “It’s a legacy within this council. It makes us unique. And when other councils hear about this program, they are always pretty amazed and want to know how they can go about starting something locally. It’s because of our lovely, our coaches who have dedicated so much time and attention – and they’ve also been finding the girls to race.”
Megan Cook, coach for the team from 2010 to 2024 and a paddler as a girl from 2002 to 2004, was grateful to have the council’s help in pulling the celebration together.
“This team has been an incredible part of my life so I’m just so excited that everyone was able to come here today,” she said.
Not at the event but thrilled for the team is Roger Murray, race director for the Great Smith River Canoe and Kayak Race. He said next year’s event on May 16 will be the 50th running of that race and he looks forward to having the Swift Water Paddlers there.
“They’re so good!” he said. “After one time a number of years ago, the Boy Scouts chickened out of a race because they got beaten so badly by the girls! They’re always so competitive.”
In 2017, the team was recognized at the Smith River event with an award recognizing the team for its long participation.
Canoe racing has been around for centuries, with roots tracing back to ancient cultures. Today, it’s a competitive sport where individuals or teams race on a variety of water bodies, including rivers and lakes. The first recorded canoe race was in 1847 on the Susquehanna River. Roberts had been racing canoes for 15 years when he was approached about putting a team of Girl Scouts together. He came to the team with the experience of whitewater racing, finishing second at the New England National Whitewater championships in Maine.
In the late summer of 1974, a council in Binghamton, NY, proposed the idea, which he took six months to consider.
“In February 1975,” he said, “they had a group of Girl Scouts and we went to the YMCA in Manchester and I gave them all a swim test to see if they could put a life jacket on while in the water. That’s a difficult job -- they all passed.”
They practiced on Sunday afternoons for six weeks, then had tryouts on Mother’s Day to form teams for 5-mile legs and sprints. They went on to compete at a race in Somersworth, NH, in the Salmon Falls River, then to the Smith regatta in Wolfeboro, NH, then the Clinton event in New York. They finished second to the team that lived in Binghamton.
At the 50th anniversary gathering, Roberts remarked that something that was supposed to last for six months turned into a 19-year-long commitment with the Swift Water Paddlers.
“I gave up racing myself because I had so much fun with the girls!” he said.
He became so involved with Girl Scouts he spent three years working at Camp Chenoa then nine years at Camp Farnsworth in Vermont as maintenance man, retiring in 2003. He noted how different Camp Kettleford looks today. He said when he was with the paddlers, they stored the racing canoes in the main part of the camp and had to carry them down the rather steep hill to the banks of Sebbins Pond.
He choked up a bit as he spoke to the group of people gathered to honor him as founder, recalling that his wife, Nancy, gave up her Mother’s Day every year for the team.
“It was such a small sacrifice,” she said. “He built up this program so very much. And he had a boat named after him. The other lady that was with us was Carol Mayo, and Jane Haskell. We’ve lost both of them, but it was an inspiration that they were given that little glimmer and off they went with the program. And it was just … they loved it so much.”
Chiming in on that point, Jean Clark said, “My family learned early on that it was my day! I could do what I wanted to do. I came here! You enjoy your Mother’s Day, I’m coming here!”
“Bill and Jean and Jane were the power trifecta,” said Pils-Martin. “He was the dad figure. He was everybody’s cheerleader and he knew everything about canoeing, at least from our perspective. … He’s always been incredibly invested in our Girl Scout council. I had the privilege of working with him when he was property manager at (Camp) Farnsworth. … He’s an amazing man.”
Team memories
Barbara (Clark) Lowdes attended the 50th anniversary celebration – the only person from the original 1975 team.
“My mother heard about it and said, ‘You’re going to join!’” she said. “We went to the first meeting and we joined up. We went down to Kettleford, we practiced, and there was a tryout – I think it was actually at Farnsworth. We had a race. There was a tryout for two six-member teams and then we had two four-member teams. It was a sprint and a relay. Somebody would do the first five miles and then we would get out and another two would get in and continue for the next five miles. … We had a great time.”
Miranda Breen, a Nashua 10th-grader, is a current member of the Paddlers. Her mother, Ally, looked on proudly as her daughter described her experience.
“It’s an amazing organization that you guys can join. It’s super fun to do,” she said. “This is only my second year on the team, but I’ve definitely made so many new friends and so many fun experiences with all these people I’ve met. The races are absolutely amazing and so fun. We get to go up, you’re amped, you see your team before, you see your team after when you get awards, and it’s just an amazing experience.”
Kate Shaffer, a current coach and former team member, was effusive about the team.
“It’s just crazy to think that it’s been 50 years of a whole team to still be consistent and still be here,” she said. “I paddled and now I coach, and just kind of watching the progression has been amazing. I love that it’s still here after 50 years.”
She said she’s made lifelong friends who coach with her and keep in touch. She also finds it fun to tell people she’s a canoe-racing enthusiast.
“Everyone’s always like, what did you do??” she said. “And I was like, I raced canoes! And they just think it’s the coolest thing.”
Eren Pils-Martin raced with the paddlers from 1992-97 and was an assistant coach for a few years after that.
“This was a big piece of my formative years,” she said. “I’m not the most coordinated for team sport-type activities. But something one on one, or in this case two on two, I could do. And I was good at it! I had the upper body strength that let me really dig in and I loved the sense of team that came with it. The coaches were always amazingly supportive and even if you weren’t the best at it, they were still cheering for you. … It was not just a team, it was family.”
History of the team
The paddling team began as the Swift Water Racers, a nod to the name of the Girl Scout council then serving New Hampshire as the Swift Water Council. It later changed its name to the Swift Water Paddlers as the council enlarged to include Vermont and became Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains.
Bill Roberts was its first coach with the formation of the team in the spring of 1975, supported by Jean Clark, Jane Haskell, and Carol Mayo, as well as his wife, Nancy. Sarah Brown was involved at the council level.
“I handled the canoeing part of it and they handled all the meals and traveling and all the paperwork,” Roberts said. “Three of them (Haskell, Clark, and Mayo) managed to keep control of the girls. Not sure what year – I lived in Pelham, which was not part of Swift Water so none of my five girls could paddle at that time. They raced with me but not the team. At some point, Swift Water took on Pelham and some of Massachusetts’ towns. So my two youngest girls got together as a team. Those were the years we had tryouts in Vermont. Only two girls from Vermont were on the team.”
Coaches through the years
Records are incomplete on the roster of coaches through the years, but they include the following:
- Bill Roberts – 1975-1994
- Jean Clark – 1978-1997
- Eren Pils-Martin 1992-97
- Laura Betts – 1995-2009
- Kali Foley – 2003-2010
- Erin Calvert 2009-2025
- Megan Cook – 2010-2024
- Kate Shaffer – 2011-2025
- Vanessa Horton – current
- Alandra Horton
- Sonya Rousseau – 2011-2017
- Dana Hedrick
- Adrian Newton
- Kayla Briggs – 2006-2007
Results of the General Clinton Canoe Races going back through 2009 can be found at https://www.canoeregatta.org/race/results.php. Results of the Great Smith River race are not online.
Roberts was coach of the team for 19 years, leaving an indelible mark on all who raced under his mentorship.
“I just told them to do their best,” he said. “I didn’t push any of them. I taught them how to stay straight and read the water. Reading the water is one of the most important things in canoe racing. If you get a canoe into an eddy in a river, if you’re on the edge of an eddy, it’s the fastest point. If you get into the eddy or flat water, it can turn you around. Instead of correcting a stroke in the stern or bow, switch sides to keep it straight. That was the biggest thing I taught them. What surprised me is they’re still winning!”
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Anyone interested in learning more about the paddling team or Girl Scouts can find out more at www.girlscoutsgwm.org.
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