MARATHON

Canoe Marathon is a tough, endurance based discipline in both canoes and kayaks with competitors racing over distances up to 30km.

This fun, but challenging, endurance sport takes place mainly on flatwater but a more extreme version of racing has evolved, involving racing over marathon distances on rivers where there are obstacles such as weirs and rapids to be negotiated. As you learn more boat handling skills, it becomes tactically as well as physically challenging, with boats racing in groups and contesting sprint finishes.

Canoe Marathon sees competitors race from one point to another across possible combinations of river, lake, estuary and sea while having to navigate around any obstacles, having to carry the boat at times if necessary. This format has developed to encourage a more spectator-friendly approach to the discipline with courses created to be covered in laps with a number of portages (artificial or real). 

That event is contested by two types of boat, canoe (C) and kayak (K). Men and women have singles events in C1 and K1, and doubles events in K2, while there is also a men’s C2 category. Canoe Marathon can feature different ways of starting the race, but at the World Championships a held start is used, where the back of the boat is held by a boat holder on the pontoon until the starter lets them go.