About Wildwater Racing

Wildwater racing (also known as downriver racing) is the purest form of whitewater sport – fastest person down the river wins. Wildwater races are held on rivers of all difficulties with international caliber races being held on whitewater of at least class three difficulty and paddlers race the course over independent start intervals.

The sport has two official distances - Sprint and Classic. The sprint distance is conducted over courses of 500m to 1000m in length while classic races are held over much longer distances usually 3km to 10km in length. Offshoots to these officially recognized distances and race structures are common at many local events and often include mass start wildwater races and plastic boat classes over various distances.

A wild water boat is designed for straight line travel with a V-shaped hull, and "wings" behind the paddler to provide stability.

In Alberta, wildwater events and races are typically held in conjunction with slalom events.