Latest Results

What to do when you are promoted>

Upcoming Events

How to get started in canoe slalom>
Get Reranked>

Return your bibs

With the end of the season in sight, it is time to start thinking about how you are going to return your bib when you finish racing this season. The following bib officers will be at races as indicated and are happy to collect your bib.

Pinkston Div 1/2

Les Ford Div 1 K1M
Craig Dougles Div 2 K1M
Karen Crowhurst Any bib.

Wagon Lane Div 3/4

Ken Crowhurst will collect any Div 3 bibs

Stone Div 3/4

Donna Hawkins any Div 2 and Div 3 women’s bibs
Karen Crowhurst any bibs

Symonds Yat Div 2/3

Emma Godwin will collect any Div 2 or Div 3 Bibs

Tees Barrage Prem/1

Les Ford Div 1 K1M
Craig Dougles Div 2 K1M
Oli Snowdon Prem and Div 1 C1M
Karen Crowhurst any bib.

Llandysul Div 1/2

Les Ford Div 1 K1M
Emma Godwin Div 2 and Div 3 C1M
Karen Crowhurst any bibs

Lee Valley Prem

Tracy Wells Prem K1M
Paul Mew Vets
Karen Crowhurst Prem K1W, Div 1K1M, Div1 K1W Div 3 K1M
Oli Snowdon Prem and Div 1 C1M
Stuart Meakins C2

Otherwise please post you bib back to your bib officer when you finish racing this season.

Slalom Coaching Conference

Sunday 30th November 2025 10am – 4pm

HPP National Watersports Centre

A chance for the community to come together and share learning and insights across the UK. Please use QR code on the image for to sign up for futher information.

Introduction of new Safety Officer Induction

The Safety Officer Induction is now available, and is designed for those that hold Safety Officer roles within National Association Communities, Clubs, Disciplines and Delivery Partners, assisting and supporting them in their role as a Safety Officer.

The workshop is free of charge and is open to those who have the role of Safety Officer within their organisation. In order to attend you must have completed the Risk Assessment eLearning. Discount codes for this eLearning are available from your Club newsletters, Discipline Committee or Delivery Partner dashboards.

This induction replaces the Event Safety Management Training.

You can book your place on the following dates using the links: 29th September, 27th October, 24th November

The Standards for Deployment have been updated to reflect this change with the following FAQ added to the list

What Training do I need as a safety officer?:

All Safety Officers need to have attended the Safety Officer Induction Programme, and then continually engage with professional development through the Safety Officer newsletters and workshops. Safety Officers that have already completed the Event Safety Training will need to attend the new Safety Officer Induction Programme within a 3 year period of their training.

Standards for Events

As discussed already with each of the discipline committees, Paddle UK will introduce a standards for events in 2026.  We’ve recognised that we can do more for volunteer event organisers and have consolidated the available information, current guidance and resource into a Standard for Events document.  The aim is to better clarify benchmarks for events that run under the Paddle UK banner and to provide support on how to achieve this.

Chris Martin (Updated)

It is with sadness we inform the paddling community of the passing of Chris Martin after many years of ill health.

As a Matlock Canoe Club Founder & President, paddling enthusiast and former GB slalom coach, Chris gave more than he ever took and will be greatly missed by us all.

Our thoughts are with his family at this time.

Chris’s funeral will be on Friday 3 October at 3pm at the Amber Valley Memorial Park and Crematorium and afterwards at The Tavern at Tansley near Matlock. Please let me know if you are planning to come so I can give the family an idea of numbers.
Dress code is smart but not overly formal. Donations to Ashgate Hospice.

If you have any photos, please email them to me at secretarymatlockcc@gmail.com

Pete Montgomery

Inter-Club Championships 2025

This year’s event on 6/7 September saw eleven squads from eight different clubs compete at Cardington Slalom Course. Each squad consisted of 12 boats (13 paddlers) plus a squad manager. Each boat races in a team and an individual race and scores 1 point for a win, 2 for second etc. The squad with the lowest points wins.

On Saturday, the team runs were held with each club racing three mixed division teams. These were followed by the div 1 K1M and Prem K1 paddlers taking their individual runs. Stafford & Stone A got off to an early lead with just one point between Viking and Lee Valley for second place. Sunday was individual runs for K1M, K1W, C1M, C1W and C2 across the divisions. The grand finale of the weekend was the team race with the Prem K1W, Prem K1M and Div 1 K1M.

This year’s winners of the Nomad Cup for the winning squad was Stafford & Stone A scoring a magnificent 28 points. Viking KC came second with 68 points with Lee Valley and Stafford & Stone B in joint 3rd close behind with 72 points. Well done to all who took part and a big thank you to Donna Hawkins (Organiser) and all the volunteers who made the event possible.

Lorraine Murray-Glendenning Outstanding achievement award 2025

This award is in memory of Lorraine who coached and ran the slalom sessions at Hexham Canoe club and organised the div 2/3 Slalom in the area. This award is to be presented to a volunteer who goes above and beyond in our sport in terms of contribution, promoting the sport and helping others. Last year it was presented to Jason Reid of Proteus for his efforts in building a thriving slalom and general paddling section at the club. Lorraine didn’t do slalom herself and was all about aiding others to take part, have fun and excel hence the award. Do you know someone who should be recognised? Nominations are open NOW and close on 30th Sept, with the award being presented alongside the Memorial Sheild at Tees Prem. Please send any nominations to Anna-Louise or Chloe. Nominations should include up to half a side of A4 with the reason for the nomination and the person’s name clearly at the top. Thank you to the organisers for hosting the memorial race.

The Glendenning Family

England Slalom Club Support Scheme

The England Slalom Club Support Scheme fund opens for new applications from eligible England-based Slalom clubs and closes

The scheme is joint-funded and supported by the England Talent Programme and the England Canoe Slalom Committee.

The money invested into the scheme by the England Canoe Slalom Committee is as a direct result of the levies paid by Canoe Slalom events hosted in England.

Information on how to apply can be found here.

If you wish to discuss any potential applications beforehand then please contact myself via daniel.thompson@paddleuk.org.uk and we’ll organise a call.

Proposals for the Future Structure of Slalom Competition

As you know proposals for the proposals for the future structure of canoe slalom racing in the UK were presented in April. Based on feedback received at the event and the subsequent consultation surveys, work has been ongoing to revise the proposal.
The key principles of the revised proposals are:

• Retain Divisions for Ranking, Results, Prizes and Promotion (this is the key change from the original proposal).
• Allow paddlers to have full choice of where they race; simplify the calendar; and describe courses and venues using the proposed Tier System.
• Provide compatible performance points across all Tiers as originally proposed.

To be clear, these are proposals to be voted on at the Slalom Annual Consultative Meeting (ACM) on 29th November.  These changes will only happen if they are voted through at the ACM.
If the motion is successful the new structure will not come in until the 2027 slalom season. This is to allow sufficient time for the systems that support the running of the sport (entries website, ranking database etc) to be amended for the new structures by the volunteers that manage these systems, and for the race calendar to be planned to the new structure. If the motion is unsuccessful the existing system will be retained.

Slalom Committee governance only requires that the ACM Agenda is published at least 15 days before the date of the meeting  However, we want to put these propoals infront of the slalom community now to maximise engagement and opportunity for discussion about the proposed new structure, allowing club representatives to be fully informed of their members views ahead of a vote at the meeting.

Therefore we are now publishing:

• The draft motion that will be on the ACM Agenda
• Three short videos explaining the revised proposals including an Introduction & Overview, Ranking Divisions, and Tiers

These can all be found in the following Google Drive folder: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1yRH1Ybm2rhsfLKOPNNawvw8wH-NfmF9A?usp=drive_link

We are asking that everyone in the slalom community and lapsed slalom paddlers take time to look at and consider these proposals and make their views know to their club representatives.

The documents and presentations from the April event and subsequent feedback reports can all still be found here.

The application window for the 2025-26 England Slalom Talent Programme has opened. Any athlete wishing to be considered for inclusion to the 2025/26 Canoe Slalom England Talent Programme must complete this expression of interest form by 12:00 noon on 20 October 2025. Application is via the link HERE. Full qualification criteria can be found HERE.

Athletes who are currently a member of the England Slalom Talent Programme and who remain Juniors in 2026 do not need to apply as you will automatically be reconsidered for the 2025/26 squad.

Selection 2026 – International Panel Update

The Canoe Slalom International Panel has published an update on 2026 selection venues, dates and eligibility as well as a summary of the findings from the recent questionnaire seeking views on the 2025 selection process.

The ICF Wants Your Views

The ICF is asking you to spend a few minutes of your time participating in our survey that can help gather valuable insights and grow the global paddle sport community. 

Whether you are an elite paddler, fan, coach, or retired athlete, your feedback will help shape future initiatives, guide decision-making, and ensure the voices of our community are heard.

The survey covers a range of topics, from favourite disciplines to how to make paddle sport more.

A key focus is the ICF’s digital landscape – an important pillar of our Fit For Future Evolution strategy – which presents an unparalleled opportunity to connect and engage with paddle sport enthusiasts worldwide.

From live event broadcasts and production strategy to our social media channels and website, we are committed to developing a comprehensive suite of digital services to drive genuine engagement.

All responses will remain confidential.  All contributors will also have the chance to win one of five €50 Amazon vouchers. 

Click here to take the survey.  

How to Change Your Club on the Ranking List

Any paddler that wants to amend their Club on the ranking list needs to email the relevant Bib Officer with the details of the change needed, this needs to come from the paddler or their parent. You can also list a second club or sponsor on the ranking list – again please contact the relevant Bib Officer.

Raising Happy Champs

Train the Team Behind the Team! Support your Athletes by Empowering their Parents!

Successful sport outcomes happen when the coach-athlete-parent triangle is strong but while coaches are trained and athletes are supported parents are often left out of the game plan.

Through our experiences as a sporting family — the highs, the exhaustion, the uncertainty — I’ve come to deeply understand how important the parent role is in youth sport. So, as part of my PhD in sport psychology, I spent seven years designing the Super-P Workshop, a science-backed education program for sport parents. It’s the only parent education program to be scientifically tested and shown to reduce anxiety, improve competition outcomes, and strengthen communication between coach, parent and athlete.

Now, through Raising Happy Champs, a small but passionate team (just myself and one brilliant colleague!), we’re working to bring this workshop to clubs and organisations across all sports and all levels. It’s a one-off, 2-hour live workshop — and the feedback has been fantastic. One coach even told me, “The whole atmosphere of the club has changed.”

A short PDF is available with more details about the  SUPER-P Club info Slalom and what we offer through Raising Happy Champs. If this is of interest oto your slalom club please get in touch.

Dr. Jen Harris
Psychologist | Founder, Raising Happy Champs www.raisinghappychamps.com

Water Quality Alert

Combined Kayak and Canoe Prize

Check out John Gregory’s ICF slalom podcasts

There are 95 episodes which can also be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube. Despite the name this is not an ICF product. John came up with the ICFslalom hashtag early in the 2015 season. The podcast started in 2019. This last year there were 58 guests across the 27 episodes. Series 4 were daily episodes through the Olympics and series 5 started this autumn. Lots of British guests and stories.

The Slalom Start Box

As announced in October, Paddle UK is excited to introduce the Slalom Start Box, a comprehensive toolkit designed to support paddler recruitment within clubs to increase the number of children and young people engaged in canoe slalom across the UK. Slalom Start builds on the incredible work that all clubs and volunteers do to introduce children and young people to the amazing sport of canoe slalom. It is intended to help share this knowledge and empower others to engage more people in canoe slalom. The digital toolkit is now available and supporting webinars are taking place during the winter, you can sign up here. If you have any queries please contact slalom start

Slalom Progress Awards

Last year Canoe Wales and the England Slalom Talent Programme, in conjunction with the England Slalom Committee, presented the new Slalom Progress Awards. We have updated the Awards for this year.

New C2 pairings

Apply direct to the C2 Bib Officer – you do not need to go through reinstatement. Ranked C2 pairs may enter races at any level.