The Art of Wild Water Racing by Peter Keron

River racing is as close as I believe it is possible to get to the perfect sport. There are few other sports which present such engrossing challenges of physical conditioning, technicality and mental strength as well as the excitement of a white water run and the picturesque setting of a river valley. To the connoisseur, the delights extend yet further as one can appreciate the aesthetics of boat movement, the delights of pulling off difficult moves and the sensation of achievement as rivers are raced in 'The Zone'. The one drawback to river racing is that it's flippin' hard to learn! Though by talking to anyone who has tussled with its delights for long enough to gain competence, it will be clear to see that the returns more than pay back the effort invested.

The aim of this article is to give you, the reader a D.I.Y guide to developing the skills necessary to paddle a wild water racing boat competently. Assuming, as a reader of a canoeing publication you have at least a rudimentary training in the basics of canoeing (i.e. the ability to paddle in a straight line and the knowledge to lean downstream in a broaching situation!). The major hurdles to be overcome are 1) Training. 2) Learning to paddle rivers Whacky Racing style. 3) Getting the right equipment.

Training

Training is not a dirty word. 'Playstation' is a dirty word, and on a personal note, maybe you will indulge me a philosophical digression: You may spend 5 years trying to get to level 45 on 'Tombraider' (or similar) or you may spend 5 years trying to get a place in the GB river racing team. Either success is equally merited since it represents a personal achievement of something that was previously beyond your capabilities. However, when you have achieved level 45 on Tombraider, you may emerge from the experience with little more than exceptional hand-eye coordination and square eyes, whereas the worthiness of a sporting achievement is in the fact that you will have developed a strong heart and a healthy body, you will more than likely have travelled to some beautiful places and seen sights that will elude many people for their entire lives. You will have the privilege to meet many interesting people from all walks of life who will broaden your mind and open you eyes to the fascination of the world around us. At least if none of this, then is an extremely enjoyable method of losing weight or getting fit and strong!

Warm ups and warm down are essential - joint mobility, stretching and good posture will help prevent the typical 'neanderthal' physique common to many canoeists. Don't neglect stretching until you sprain your back and have to get airlifted to hospital from the banks of the Trent like I did! (Yes, I have learned now).

Anyway, back to the plot. River racing is a predominantly aerobic endurance event, featuring as is does a time trial down 8 - 20 minute stretches of wild water rivers. Though you do not need to be fit or strong to river race, by paddling you will become fit and strong. Paddling once or twice a week you will make technical improvements, and these can account for a massive percentage of the improvements to your performance, but this volume of training on it's own will not develop you fitness to any significant degree. Canoeing three or four times a week the improvements will come thick and fast.

As a learner, the best sort of training to do in the boat is steady aerobic work at around 80% of your anaerobic threshold.(i.e. hard enough so that you are out of breath, but not so hard that you cannot keep going) and the sessions should last 40-60 minutes. Sessions like this also allow you to think about your padddling technique. Generally speaking the important points of a good technique are to have good trunk rotation (from the hips and the legs) through the paddle stroke for optimum power, and to have a firm catch - make sure the blade is well planted in the water before you pull on it. This may slow the stroke rate down, but it is better to have a slow powerful rate than to rep like a gerbil in a wheel and not get anywhere. Technical variations around the described theme are acceptable, and generally there is a lot of scope for individuality in technique. Although there is an infinite number of modifications that can be made to the stroke to improve it, paper is not the best medium through which to describe them.

As a immigrant to the sport, it would be wise to build up to three or four boat sessions a week (depending on other commitments and ambition) over a period of 2-4 months. It is possible to get to a very high standard doing no more canoeing than this, if you supplement your routine with cross training.

Cross training usually takes the form of weight training, running, swimming, cycling, circuit training or aerobics. To begin with weight training; again, less than twice a week is making only technical improvements to your lifting performance, and is more likely to injure you / make you sore than it is to endow you with superhuman strength. Partaking in weight training is a significant commitment and if undertaken, should be done so considerately. Three sessions a week in the gym will increase your strength quickly and lead to significant improvements in conditioning. There are many different specific weight training philosophies, and I am no expert, and certainly do not have the time to discuss the vagaries of the various strategies now, but as a simple guide, choose between eight and ten exercises and complete three sets of ten repetitions on each exercise, with a set of ten reps on a light weight as a warm up and a warm down for each exercise.

A session such a this should take no more than an hour including warm ups and warm downs and although it must be intense - to the point of failure on the last rep of the last set on each exercise - it will again probably take several months to build up to this intensity of training. With weight training if you work too hard in the first few sessions you will just end up hurting like hell.

Further cross training is useful and will help develop cardiovascular fitness, which will add an extra dimension to your conditioning, but is certainly not necessary at the early stages of training. If there is another particular sport which you enjoy then use it as cross training once or twice a week and the diversity will also keep you fresh. Since I have been canoeing I have played basketball, trained on an indoor rowing machine and climbed and have found all of these sports have helped my paddling.

However, if you tot up the training I have outlined here you will notice that it adds up to at least one session every day. This is the difficult part about training: deciding how much time you are willing/able to invest in your development. It is unlikely that you will be willing to sacrifice this much time to training, and so I would recommend that three paddling sessions a week are sufficient to improve your performance markedly. Any more than this will merely speed the process up. Weight training is essential if you are serious about competing at the highest levels, but not necessary otherwise.

If you are more serious about paddling and want to invest a little more for a better return, then here are some top tips:

1) Train in a group. Persuade some like minded friends (preferably some better paddlers than yourself so you have a 'carrot on a stick' to chase, and also your mates will be less inclined to join you if they know you are going to kick their ass) to join you to share the ups and downs of training and enjoy some good old fashioned dust-ups. Flatwater racing clubs are good to train at, and if you are really stuck, tie a few lengths of rope around your boat to add resistance so you are a similar speed to slower paddlers.

2) Set goals. Set an Ultimate goal of your ambition in the sport, be it World Champion or to paddle down the Tryweryn without hitting a rock (It is possible), you need an ultimate ambition. Also set short term goals, maybe to train regularly 4 times a week, or to knock 20 seconds off your time trial record.

3) Monitor your performance. One of the most thrilling things about training is that if you do it properly you absolutely cannot fail to improve. The psychological boost gained from beating a personal record goes far beyond the instant satisfaction of success. However, in order to feel this success you must record times. Set a 2-3 mile time trial course on your training ground and test yourself every couple of weeks. Record the times, dates and conditions and see the times go down! You can also record weights in the gym and this will help motivate you to push that little bit harder.

Paddling rivers 'Whacky Racing' style

Learning rivers is the most delicate of matters since there are the elements of danger, fear, boat damage, suitable venues and driver procurement to contend with. River racers are unstable to paddle at first, but you will very soon get an idea of their capabilities and how they handle. Consequently, it is best to start on smaller rivers, such as the Wye, the Severn, the Trent, the Tyne or any slow moving river that may be local to you.

River racing boats become more stable the faster you are able to make them move, consequently the more you can improve on the flat, the better head start you will give yourself when you get on rivers. When paddling on a river, do so with two or three other people who are approximately the same speed as you. Paddle the river from top to bottom at an aerobic pace. Paddling through rapids, your instinct to slow down to see what is ahead does not help since river racers are very unstable at low speeds. Better to paddle with someone who knows the river (or on a river that you know) so that the rapids can be done at speed. On an enjoyment level, this may not seem like much fun (not stopping to play on waves, etc.) but my experience is that the challenge of finding the fastest line down the rapids and making the boat run smoothly along the shoulders of a wave chain, or correctly negotiating a tight corner or a narrow chute and the fantastic sensation of speed you get from these moves more than lives up to the joys of surfing a wave.

Unfortunately in Britain there is a dearth of quality medium difficulty rivers to paddle, apart from the Tay and the Spey in Scotland and several English rivers at the right level (A medium Tees or a medium Lune) and so the step to the next level of Division A standard difficulty is a precarious one. At this point it would be wise to contact someone in Wild Water Racing (We are all friendly and will I'm sure be more than happy to help) and find someone who knows the course to guide you down. It is difficult to paddle a hard new river on-sight in a river racer safely, but with the right guide it can be possible to paddle rivers that are far more difficult than that which you are personally capable of paddling. I believe there is a 'buddy' scheme being developed in river racing for just this purpose and so finding such a guide should not be a problem.

Using the right equipment

To begin with, unless you are unfeasibly talented, there is likely to be some boat carnage. A simple solution to this is to buy very cheap ones. There are plenty of £50 - £100 boats around that are possibly solid, possibly watertight but unlikely to be both that can be repaired and will do well for a season or two. Generally there are three different types of boat. Pre 1989 designed boats tend to be very small volume and are fast on the flat, but very unstable on the rough - a dodgy purchase, though there are some very nice cheap ones floating around. Beware! The second type are the modern 'Savage' type design. These boats are possibly slightly slower than other modern designs but are much more stable and turn much better too, these boats are ones such as the Savage (many derivatives), the Bala, the Kayel and the new Double Dutch boats the Mission and the Millennium. The Third 'philosophy' is to have a boat which is much faster but is extremely lively and handles somewhat like a ping-pong ball in the rapids, such boats are the Obsession, the Kesako and the Essox. The choice is personal, but most athletes seem to do better in the slower, more stable designs that offer a solid platform on which it is possible to exert maximum effort. The rare exceptions to this rule appear to be those rare cases that have an innate ability and no fear.

Most river racers use 'Winged' paddles that are scoop shaped. These are like the ones used by flatwater racers, but slightly smaller. The physics behind the different design are a bone of contention but they are almost certainly faster, though not much. If you want to continue paddling recreationally there is no need at all to change to wings, and personally, I doubt they are much faster anyway. Lighter paddles do help though, and a set of composite blades are well worth the investment.

Wet suits tend not to be used since they restrict movement. River racers tend to go for cag-deck combinations and thermals for ease of movement. Modern fleece lined cag-decks are a luxury and can turn even the most bitter December wind into something almost endurable!

As a final note, I would like to wish you luck in your quest and let you know that you do not need to be a stereotypically 'talented' athlete to be good at river racing. There are so many facets to the sport that whatever your personal strength (and we all have one), be it endurance, speed, technicality, dedication, stickability, concentration or mental strength, the chances are that you will be able to make your talent work in river racing. Previous river racing champions have been tall, short, lanky, stocky, powerful, fit, dedicated and even lazy (relatively!) just take a look around at a river racing event and it will make you realise that there are no stereotypes - anyone can succeed if they so desire. Many seemingly 'talented' athletes have been bettered by more dedicated and better prepared, but less obviously gifted paddlers.

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