Lee Valley – Hannah Rhodes
© Jake Mitchell

Lee Valley – Thomas Kent
© Jake Mitchell

Lee Valley – Phoebe Spicer
© Jake Mitchell

Lee Valley – Paul Mew
© Jake Mitchell

Stone 3/4 – Alex Soyoglu
© Bob Finch

Stone 3/4 – JacubDovey & Megan Pugh
© Bob Finch

Stone 3/4 – Kimberley Davies & Isabell Mackinnon
© Bob Finch

Stone 3/4 – Tomi Pugh
© Bob Finch

Stone 3/4 – William Soyoglu
© Bob Finch

Latest Results

Sun 16th MarSymonds Yat
Sat 15th MarSymonds Yat
Sun 9th MarLlandysul
Sat 8th MarLlandysul
Sun 2nd MarLee Valley Olympic
 Stone
Sat 1st MarLee Valley Olympic
 Stone
MORE RESULTS>

Shaping the Future of Slalom Consultation Event
Saturday 5th April 2025, 10am
Paddle UK HQ, Nottingham and online.

Following discussions at November’s ACM, the Paddle UK Slalom Committee have been looking at ways to make changes to the competition structures.

Participation numbers are declining so we need to make some changes to retain numbers and recruit more paddlers into Canoe Slalom. Evolving the competition system is one way of changing the offer and appeal of the sport.

This event will:

  • Set out the challenges that we are facing as a sport and highlight the need for change to secure the future of the sport in the long term.
  • Present the proposals which aim to create and promote a system that engages and retains competitive paddlers for life.
  • Gain feedback from the slalom community on the changes being proposed.

Full details, including who the meeting is for, how to register to attend and advanced information about the proposals can be found here.

Paddle UK Canoe Slalom & Kayak Cross International Panel Statement

International Panel Statement -17 March 2025, including an updated list of eligible paddlers.

2025 Senior, U23 & Junior Selection Policies:
The 2025 GBR Canoe Slalom & Kayak Cross selection policies were published on the Paddle UK Website on 16th December 2024. The IP are aware that the kayak cross diagram A in section 15.2 had an error in the points allocation, therefore an updated version of the policy with this corrected is now the final version ahead of the season and can be found here.

Confirmation of Kayak Cross Start & Finish Lines @ Lee Valley:
The International Panel can confirm that the start and finish lines for all the Kayak Cross Races have been agreed:
Start Line – The race will start from the Kayak Cross starting ramp
Finish Line – The finish line will be at the exit of ‘The Oval’ section of the course.

All Athletes – Registration Update:
Thank you to those athletes who have registered for selection. The list (in no particular order) in the International Panel statement of 17 March 2025 provides a list of those athletes (bold are pre-selected) who are eligible and registered.
● If you believe there are any inaccuracies in your details, please let the IP know at enquiries.internationalpanel@paddleuk.org.uk
● Please make sure you also enter the races as registration is not entering the race(s)!

Calendar Amendments

Please note the following amendments to the slalom calendar in May:

    • Wagon Lane Bingley Div 3/4 Slalom has been changed to the weekend of  10th & 11th May (moved from 3rd & 4th May due to a festival on the sports club site).
    • Marple Div 3/4 Slalom has moved to 3rd & 4th May (previously on 24th & 25th May).
    • Kilnhurst Div 2/3 Slalom on 17th & 18th May has been cancelled due to site access issues.

Combined Kayak and Canoe Prize

A key aim of the England Talent Canoe Slalom HERE Programme Strategy is to encourage balance of participation across gender and classes. During the early stages of a paddler’s development in canoeing it can be beneficial to be exposed to both canoe and kayak disciplines in order to develop a broad and robust range of fundamental sport skills, movement abilities and learning capabilities.

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.

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.

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.

Happy listening.

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.

Further guidance and information

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.

Last Updated 22 March 2025

 England Slalom Talent Programme Squad

The England Slalom Talent Programme have published their Qualification Criteria for 2025/26. A link can be found HERE.