Nathan Coole and Marcus Hume don't consider themselves heroes, but their actions last April may have saved three men's lives.
On March 12 Coole and Hume will be honoured for bravery at the 99th annual Commonwealth Honour and Rescue Awards. The B.C. and Yukon branch of the Lifesaving Society present the awards to people who have shown conspicuous bravery in rescuing others.
The pair rescued three young men who capsized their canoe in the frigid waters of Ness Lake on April 27, 2010.
"I think it's a pretty big honour, getting a bravery award," Coole said.
At the time Coole was building a family home on the shore of Ness Lake. Coole and Hume were outside working on a gate when they heard cries for help.
"We had been at the point of construction of doing detail work inside. But we had painters in and it was just so busy in the house, we decided to do some work outside I'd been procrastinating on," Coole said. "If we weren't out there, we'd never have heard the cries for help."
Coole and Hume couldn't see the three men in the water, so they jumped in a car and followed the sounds of the cries.
"Then we saw a lady come out of her driveway and flag us down," he said.
Janice Scott had seen the men in the water, clinging to their capsized canoe, and grabbing at life jackets. None of the three men, all in their 20s, was wearing a life jacket.
The ice had only recently come off the lake and strong winds whipped up waves on the lake. Scott had a kayak in her shed, and Coole and Hume rushed to get it.
"It was all put away for the winter - we were throwing lawn furniture out of the way, running on pure adrenaline."
Coole, who had never been in a kayak, got in the small boat and began paddling toward the men.
"It must have been 150-200 feet out there. It was a good paddle out there, that's for sure," he said. "When I got to them... I was worried they'd all try and hop on and end up flipping me."
Coole gave the men the lifejackets, and all four agreed that he would tow the man in the worst shape back to shore first.
"One of the guys had a mild stage of hypothermia ... he looked pretty rough."
The man grabbed onto the back of the kayak and Coole towed him to shore, where Hume and Scott were waiting. Coole headed back towards the remaining two men when a neighbour in an aluminum fishing boat reached the men and rescued them.
Hume said he and Scott bundled the men into blankets and rushed them inside, where a fire was burning. Members of the Ness Lake Volunteer Fire Department arrived shortly afterwards and began treating the men for hypothermia. All three were rushed to hospital.
"I wasn't expecting it. [But] it's pretty awesome," Hume said. "We were just in the right spot."
Lt.-Governor Steven L. Point will present Coole and Hume with their awards in a ceremony in Vancouver on March 12.
The names of the three men who were rescued have never been released.
