Have you seen kayak and canoe sprint racing? Have you watched it during the Olympics and Paralympics? Do you want to give it a try?

Norwich Canoe Club encourages and tries to enable participation in sprint racing at all ages and levels of ability. A lot of our paddlers enjoy sprint and we have coaches to help them develop. We run fun club sprint events that all members can enter and are good social events. There are 5 national sprint regattas this year (listed below) and the club will have big teams at all of them. Last year we had teams peaking over 50 paddlers and with all the coaches and support team that means about 100 members attending the event – fantastic fun.

The national regattas are held over weekends at the National Watersports Centre in Nottingham.  There is a tiered racing system at most regattas, meaning you race people of about your own speed. However, there is a minimum standard of speed you must reach to qualify to race in Nottingham – we can help you achieve that speed at the club.  Paddlers are ranked in classes based on gender, age and ability. There are 4 age groups: Under 12 years, Juniors (12-18 years), Seniors and Masters (over 34 years). Apart from the Under12s, each age groups are divided into 4 classes (A-D) based on speed. Sprints are raced over 200 m, 500 m, 1000 m and 5 km in singles (K1) as well as crew boats (K2 and K4).

If you are dreaming of an Olympic medal or simply want to have some fun in a crew boat race, talk to our sprint rep or any club coach to learn more. sprintrep@norwichcanoeclub.co.uk.

If you have not paddled a racing boat before, and would like to try it, have a look at the information about taster sessions at our page on How to Join, and arrange to visit the club and have a look.

The Regatta dates for 2023 are:-

See the Sprint racing web site for more information about the national sprint events: http://canoeracing.org.uk/sprint/