Team Dagger
Anna Levesque
About Me:
I started paddling during the summer of 1994 when I worked a summer job in the kitchen of a rafting company on the Rouge River in Quebec, near my childhood home. Since then I've paddled all over the world, and I've been paddling for Dagger since 1999! I've competed internationally in both freestyle kayaking and extreme racing, at one time ranking 3rd in the world in freestyle. My passion for the last 2 decades has been focused on empowering women in whitewater kayaking with a holistic approach to courage, confidence and skill. I call it mind body paddle :)
Hometown:
Asheville, NC
Dagger Kayak of Choice:
Creeking & Teaching: Small Code / Riverplay and Teaching: Small Rewind
Favorite Places to Paddle:
Right here in Western North Carolina, West Virginia and Costa Rica
Why I Love Kayaking:
Kayaking requires present moment awareness and that is the path to self-awareness and living life fully. How you approach the challenges in kayaking informs how you approach the challenges in daily life, and vice versa.
Kayaking Accomplishments:
Bronze medalist at the 2001 Freestyle World Championships, 5-time member of the Canadian National Freestyle Team, and named one of the most inspirational paddlers alive by Canoe and Kayak magazine. I produced the first instructional DVD for women in whitewater kayaking - Girls at Play and I created and run a successful coaching business that invites women to show up as they are, and empowers them with courage, confidence and skill to do what's important to them in their kayaking and life. I started the Shannon Christy Memorial Fund and run an annual fundraiser called Womens Paddlefest. I also run Ladies on the Lower Gauley, a fundraiser for AW the Friday before Gauley Fest.
Most Memorable Moment in Your Kayak:
So many, but if I had to choose one... It would be doing a midnight, full moon run on the Kaituna river in New Zealand. The glow worms lighting up the steep canyon walls were amazing! I also had the cleanest line off the waterfall that night so I joked that I should start running rivers with my eyes closed :)
Tenure with Dagger:
22 years
