Canoeing

Canoeing is an activity involving a special kind of canoe. When exactly a canoe can be called a kayak is difficult to determine though, and often arbitrary. Internationally, the term canoeing is used as a generic term for both forms though the terms "paddle sports" or "canoe/kayak" are also used. In North America, however, 'canoeing' usually refers only to canoes, as opposed to both canoes and kayaks. Paddling a kayak is also referred to as kayaking

The International Canoe Federation is the world wide canoeing organisation and creates the standard rules for the different disciplines of canoe/kayak competition. The ICF recognises several competitive and non-competitive disciplines of canoeing, of which Sprint and Slalom are the only two competing in the Olympic games. The United States Canoe Association is widely considered the American authority in sport and recreational canoeing, and recognizes many ICF classes. Other national competition rules are usually based on the rules of the ICF.

Marathon - Longer distance races over mostly flatwater courses, possibly including one or more portages. Course lengths typically vary from a few miles to the epic 125-mile (201 km) Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Marathon on the Thames, the 120-mile (190 km) overnight Au Sable River Canoe Marathon in Michigan, and the 260-mile (420 km) "World's Toughest Boat Race", the Texas Water Safari. USCA rules specify that a Marathon course may not have rapids over class II on the International Scale of River Difficulty whereas, in the United Kingdom and Ireland, courses may be of any difficulty and with any hazards including weirs, like those found in the Liffey Descent [1]. The most extreme courses can be found in South Africa, and grade V sections are not unusual in for example, the Fish River Marathon [2]. Australia's most famous marathon race is the Hawkesbury Canoe Classic.