ICF Canoe Marathon Committee activities Q3 2025

Final preparations key to success

In July, the final touches were made for The World Games in Chengdu, China, which were held in early August. Together with Hoichan Kwon from the ICF events team, it was clear that we had to ensure that everything was in order for this competition. We had many video meetings with the organisation to discuss the small but important details. All the major issues, such as the portage, the athletes' area and the finish tower etc., had already been arranged in previous months through consultation with the parties involved, such as Swiss Timing, ISB, local organisation and consultation with Dr. Wai-hung Luk, Chair of the ICF Dragon Boat Commission. But the final preparations were essential to ensure that everything was perfectly organised. There were no major events in July, but it was still a busy month for marathon and especially for Competition Manager Ruud Heijselaar.

Chengdu sizzles for marathon racing

On August 9 and 10, Canoe Marathon took place at The World Games. Chengdu did everything it could to treat its guests well and organise everything down to the last detail, and the preparations, which took almost two years, certainly paid off. It was also a big challenge for us, because we shared the course with Dragon Boat, but the cooperation with Dragon Boat was excellent and it was nice to do it this way. Let's hope we can do this more often. The biggest problem for us, as an endurance sport, was the temperature and high humidity. Every effort was made to ensure that the athletes felt comfortable before and during the races. Each participating country had its own air-conditioned tent, and a misting station was installed on the portage to provide some cooling during the races. On the first day, during the short-distance race, it was warm, but that did not cause any problems. During the long race on the second day, it rained all day, which also caused the temperature to drop. That was a relief for the paddlers, but less so for the audience. Melina Andersson from Sweden and Mads Brandt Pedersen from Denmark won both the short and long distances. All in all, it was an impressive event, the best ever with around 4,500 athletes across the 34 Olympic and non-Olympic sports. It will be difficult to match.

Testing, testing

Following The World Games, an inspection was carried out on a potential venue for the World Cup in Bazhong, a city with a population of 600,000 near Chengdu, which is not particularly large by Chinese standards. The river, with its high banks and proximity to the city centre, and certainly the enthusiastic organisation in Bazhong, make it a suitable location for a World Cup.

Capital of Canoe Marathon

In September, the Canoe Marathon World Championships was held in Gyor, Hungary's Canoe Marathon capital, where four major marathon competitions have been held to date. The last one was 10 years ago. The event was organised by the same organisation that also runs the international Canoe Sprint competitions in Hungary. The number of participating countries in the masters, juniors, under 23 and seniors and Para categories was higher than ever, and every year we see growth in the number of participants and registrations in all categories. This time there were 43 countries in the juniors, under 23 and seniors and para categories, and with the masters included we reached 49 countries. The Paracanoe Canoe Marathon World Championships were held for the first time and attracted 89 participants. In total, there were more than 1,150 registrations.

By Ruud Heijselaar, Chair of the ICF Canoe Marathon Committee