fitness paddling: exercise, train, race by kayak & canoe

This 120 km race is the biggest Danish kayak event with +800 participants mostly from Scandinavia and Germany. There’re paddlers racing in ICF K1, ICF K2, ICF C1, sea kayaks and most dominating the Scandinavian K1/K2 trainer classes.

This years race was characterized by a stiff headwind saturday which generated a sizable chop on the big lakes. This resulted in numerious capsizes and a good deal of quitting. I say the waves were of such a size that few paddlers would like to take an ICF racer out in them.

Compared to last year the sea kayak class had been upgraded with more sea racers. Last year we saw two Reval Extreme R and my own Inuk. This year we had three Reval Extreme Type-R, one Sipre Katabatic, my Moskito, two Seda Gliders and an Inuk. Of course there were also a number of more traditional sea kayaks.

For many danish kayakers the Tour de Gudenå marks the beginning of the end of the season. Nevertheless, Peter had a post on a 10 km club race which took place in January - nice pictures with a snow in background. It looks like they have fun year around.