For the last few years my new-found interest in running has competed with kayaking/canoeing for my spare time. Over these years certain differences in these 2 sports have become clear even to my addled brain. I guess the most obvious is that - for paddlers the only thing the legs do is provide a conduit for the cramped frozen feet to send their whining to the brain.

Kayak/canoe races come in all shapes and sizes, from 500 meter flat water sprints to multi day paddling marathons, wild water point to point races, slaloms and finally freestyle "rodeo" type events. Unlike most foot races, most paddling races are against the clock, with competitors starting at intervals - so you have no choice but to ignore the other competitors and "run" your own race.

With the smaller muscle groups involved in paddling it's hard to get heart rates up as high as running - when I'm paddling flat out my heart rate barely approaches an easy run level - but, boy do my arms bum !! Even so, strength and conditioning are not as important as in running, experience and boat handling skills are far more important.

For instance, the fastest way down a river is not always obvious, on any given section of a river the water currents are moving at different speeds, sometimes from side to side, other times upstream. In running, the shortest distance between 2 points is a usually a straight line and we try and hug the inside of comers accordingly. Not so in racing down a river, although it's shorter to move to the inside of a bend in the river the fastest current prefers the outside of the bend and that's the best line to take. The experienced paddler is able to read a river like a book and can sniff out the fastest water, thus getting a bigger bang for his paddling buck. Paddling strokes usually perform 3 functions - propulsion, steering & stability - sometimes a single paddle stroke can contain elements of all 3. A fast paddler uses the water to steer his boat, always stays balanced, so his strokes are 100% propulsion.

One of the things I like best about competitive paddling is that I've never really "trained" for the competitions, I've just gone out on the rivers every weekend and had fun, and that's a concept I think we should all try and incorporate in our running. Oh yes, and unlike foot races, if you just sit and do nothing, you will eventually cross the finish line!!