Slalom Kayaking is an exciting water sport which is great fun at all levels and takes us to some of the most beautiful and tranquil rivers and bush settings in Victoria. You can start at a local water course and end up representing Australia overseas including events like the Olympics.
Canoe Slalom is an exciting white water paddling discipline that combines the best in paddling technique, skill, fitness and power. The sport consists of up to 25 designated upstream or downstream gates (vertical poles approximately on metre apart) suspended over a course of whitewater rapids along a length of 200 – 300 metres. The paddler must negotiate the gates in numerical order, the correct direction, in the shortest possible time and with the least number of penalties. Canoe Slalom can present challenges and deliver achievable outcomes at all levels from beginners to Elite. It is an Olympic sport and is well supported by the Victorian Institute of Sport.
Wildwater is one of the most physically demanding canoe disciplines of the World International Canoe Federation’s (ICF) sports.
Wildwater canoeing is a usually timed event across two courses, Classic and Sprint. These courses are usually natural rivers containing class 2 to 4 rated Whitewater. The ICF is experimenting with mass starts and longer races
In the Classic race, athletes race for four to seven kilometres (15 to 35 minutes) and in Sprint races for 200 to 600 metres (one minute).
Wildwater kayaks are lightweight constructed from carbon fibre and kevlar to achieve a minimum weight of 10kg. They are 4.5m long and narrow making them fast but also less stable.
Races are run to ICF rules. Paddlers are required to wear mandatory safety gear including helmet, buoyancy vest and with buoyancy bags in all craft.
This racing requires strategic insight to pick the fastest lines down the river and balance power and speed with considered execution and timing to achieve maximum speed through wild and daunting Whitewater rapids. Athletes need peak fitness and endurance to be strong and fast yet calm and calculating.
The attraction to the sport is its attachment to nature and the exhilaration of successfully paddling fast flowing Wildwater at high speed.
