Anna Levesque

Paddling School Instructor
Team Dagger Professional Kayaker
Girls at Play, Women's kayak instruction

Height: 5'4"
Weight: 160 lbs

A river runs through Anna Levesque's life. Of churning foam and placid stillness, it's one that courses through her very being, generating challenge, competition, and a certain Zen quality that reveals and teaches much about the mysteries of inner self.

The 32-year-old Canadian was a bronze medallist at the 2001 Freestyle Kayaking World Championships, and has been a member of the 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003 Canadian National Freestyle teams. As a professional whitewater kayaker and international guide she's worked and paddled in Canada, the U.S., Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, France, Australia, Austria and Africa.

An active youth spawned her desire to kayak. "I grew up downhill ski racing," Levesque says. "I was always involved in sports." She stayed active in college rowing on the crew team at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It was during a summer back home in Ontario that changed her life. "I wanted to work for this rafting company there," she says. "I didn't really grow up camping, didn't grow up in an outdoor environment, but this was something I wanted to do. I worked as receptionist before I got on the water. It was something I was drawn to. I got involved, sought it out, and fell in love with it."

What motivated her to compete, she says, was "the personal challenge to better myself. Competition taught me about myself, about fear and intimidation, overcoming self-doubt and letting go of the need to prove myself."

For a sport that provided so much insight into her inner psyche, it's also given her a deep insight into the female mind and heart. With what she's learned, she has produced an instructional kayak video series for women, called "Girls At Play," which offers not only practical how-to advice, but also peers into ways to overcome fear and intimidation, as well as reveal what a river can teach about personal growth, dedication and drive to succeed. She complements the videos with the Girls at Play Summer Tour, a fourteen stop tour of women's clinics that offer women the chance to learn and improve their skills in a fun, supportive environment.