Virtual Racing by kayak and canoe

The idea is to paddle the race distance, record your results by GPS and submit data for posting. Please see the submission form for required information. In addition to the race data, you are welcome to submit any information about yourself, your paddling, training and racing.

Everybody is invited to race! Solo, tandems or adventure racer teams. Any paddling boats and paddlers of all skill levels. You can submit as many entries as you wish to show your progress.

GPS is recommended to record distance and time, but you can also use SpeedMate or similar devices. GPS units designed for training like Garmin Forerunner or Edge are ideal.

There are two marathon race distances: 5 miles (8 km) and 10 miles (16 km). To make entries somewhat comparable the race course should be on water without current and include one or more loops to average over paddling conditions. You can race on rivers or waters with tidal currents, but the current will work against your race time on the closed loop course. You spend more time paddling against current than racing with the current.

The 5 mile and 10 mile entries are recorded as: (1) "cruisers" with the average speed below 6 mph, and (2) "racers" with the average 6 mph or higher. It should be easier to analyze the results and you can get promoted to the higher category. I have entries in both tables. The results of supermen paddling above 7 mph are typed in red.

New in 2006: a 1000m sprint race!. Calm or near calm conditions, no current, does not need to be on a loop. I think that this option may be interesting to compare different boats under the same paddler. In that case it will be more important to keep that same effort as measured by a HRM rather than to paddle at maximum speed.

I can add other categories or time trials if there is enough interest and entries.

Related post: Virtual Race Point System.