British Open K1M Sam Leaver
© Richard Nutter Photography
British Open K1L Lois Leaver
© Richard Nutter Photography
British Open K1L Joely Walling
© Richard Nutter Photography
British Open C1M Sid Griffith
© Richard Nutter Photography
British Open C1M Sam Maingay
© Richard Nutter Photography
| Overall | Stone Mini Overall |
| 23rd Feb | Stone Mini 3 |
| 9th Feb | Stone Mini 2 |
| 26th Jan | Stone Mini 1 |
Shaping the Future Structure of Slalom consultation
The Slalom Committee have been looking at ways to make changes to the competition structures following discussions at the last ACM. The proposals aim to create and promote a system that engages and retains competitive paddlers for life.
These proposals will be presented to the slalom community at a meeting on Saturday 5th April in Nottingham (and hybrid), followed by consultation with the community on the proposed changes.
Please save the date – full details will be coming soon.
Prior to this we are asking all in the slalom community to please consider why we need some change and what are the positive and negatives of the current ranking system structure.
Some further details and a timeline for consultation can be found here.
Combined Kayak and Canoe Prize
For 2025, the England Slalom Talent Programme in conjunction with Peak PS will once again be offering a prize for the Male and Female paddlers aged J16 that have accumulated the greatest combined points total in kayak and canoe over the course of the 2025 domestic season. There will be a separate prize for each gender, where each prize winner will receive a £100 Peak PS gift voucher as a reward.
Last year there were a total of 121 paddlers who scored points towards the combined prize criteria with over 1000 start lists throughout the season. The overall 2024 winners were Amber Forster (Holme Pierrepont Canoe Club) and Nathan Hicks (Stafford & Stone Canoe Club).
Full details of this combined prize can be found HERE. The combined league tab will be updated throughout the season to show paddlers rankings in relation to this combined prize.
Apply for your bibs!
The start of the season is looming! Please apply for your bibs using the canoe slalom portal where you can also download any promotion certificates gained in the last 5 years. You will need the National Association membership details to hand for each paddler. Expired memberships or memberships which expire in the next month must be renewed before a bib application can be made.
Bradford and Bingley Slalom
Please note that the Bradford and Bingley Slalom has been changed to the weekend of May 10th and 11th.
Lee Valley Olympic Slalom Sessions
LVWWC is running 4 public slalom sessions (available to anyone who passed the Olympic assessment) in the run up to the selection races: 1pm & 5pm on both Thu 27 & Fri 28 March.
Volunteering in Slalom Training Offer
The Slalom Committee have developed and trialled a presentation to help recruit and train more people to volunteer at events. The presentation covers judging and timing roles and aims to inform people about these roles and the relevant rules, and encourage volunteers to get involved with running events. This can be combined with getting people to have a go a these roles supported by an experienced official. The trial run at September’s HPP Prem/1 event saw several new judges and section judges being recruited.
The committee would like to offer this suport to event organisers and clubs. We have a number of people willing to deliver the training which could be at club evenings, at events or training days. At events this could include supporting new volunteers into these roles. If you would like to arrange a training sessions for potential volunteers please contact Sally Atkinson.
Selection Entry & Registration
All athletes meeting the eligibility criteria stated in section 3 of the selection policy wishing to be considered for selection to a 2025 Great Britain team should register for selection in order to confirm eligibility. The registration process can be completed here and should be finalised by 12pm on Wednesday 5th March 2025. Athletes are reminded that they remain responsible for entering the appropriate race(s) before entry limits are reached. Entering the race is not registration.
The International Panel has published the Slalom & Kayak Cross Junior, U23 & Senior combined document and an accompanying statement which highlights the slalom registration process, announces the final slalom Div 1 Junior selection qualifiers and shares the key themes from the consultation process.
The policies are published by the respective International panels and are the result of significant work behind the scenes, in particular the IP’s would like to thank everyone who contributed to the development of the policies through the public consultation process in the autumn of 2024.
Grandtully Easter
Details of how to book camping if you are attending Grandtully at Easter have now been released. Please follow the link for detailed instructions.
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.
Introducing 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
WATER QUALITY – Recommendations for the paddling community
With the recent high water levels and the risk of more and more rain, we would like to remind all paddlers, volunteers and anyone spending time by the rivers to consider the water quality and the risk of infection caused by microorganisms in the natural environment.
Please remember the following precautions:
cover any cuts and grazes with waterproof plasters
avoid swallowing river water
clean any wounds as soon as possible
wash your hands with soap and water after any contact with water, and shower as soon as possible if you’ve been in potentially infected water.
If you become sick, contact your GP and let them know you are a paddler, with details of when or where you paddled.
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.
Please Volunteer – Your sport needs you!
We are in desperate need of volunteers. Please contact Sally Atkinson or Matt Crowhurst if you are interested in helping out at Canoe Slalom Div 1 and/or Prem events. It doesn’t have to be for the whole day – even an hour can be really helpful.
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.
Minutes of Slalom Committee Meetings
8 February 2025
4 January 2025
4 December 2024
30 November 2024 (ACM)
9 November 2024
18 September 2024
England Slalom Talent Programme Squad
The England Slalom Talent Programme have published their Qualification Criteria for 2025/26. A link can be found HERE.
