Car parking

Car parking is available on the grassed area of the park. Please follow directions from Marshals when you turn off Thames Side and into the park. Parking is £6 per day, payable on arrival (card payments only).

If you require accessible parking please contact the organiser in advance to ensure that suitable space can be made available.

Please note – if you choose to park in the hard standing Laleham Park car park, this is not part of the event and you must pay charges as directed.

Sunday morning – please note that access to the car park will be held to allow the Junior Parkrun to take place in the park. You must arrive early for races in Start G, ie before 8:50am. There will then be no access to the car park until 9:30am.

Entries

All entries will be made through the Marathon Racing entry system and will be opened nearer the time.

Entries will close on Sunday 5 July 2026 11.59pm. There will be no late or entries on the day (read in conjunction with Entry modifications).

Fees

Adults                                                                £19.50

Juniors *under 18 on 1 Jan 2026.                £13.50

Payment must be made at the time of entry or the entry is not valid.

All entrants must either carry Paddle UK membership or associate membership of an affiliated club.

Entry modifications

Modifications after the deadline above are permitted for scratches and swaps between singles and doubles of previously entered crew members, eg in the event of illness or unavailability of one member of a K2 crew.

Amendments to confirmed entries permitted up to two hours before the races.

Check-in

Race check-in will be open from 7.30am on Saturday. Check-in by club Team Leaders only.

Team Leaders will be supplied with a pack of number boards for their crews, which they are then responsible for allocating correctly to their paddlers and for ensuring that numbers are safely returned afterwards.

A charge of £5 per board will be applied for any missing number boards not returned.

Guidance and Eligibility

Paddlers may compete in races specified for those of a higher ranking but will not be allowed to compete in races specified for those of a lower ranking (eg an Under 18 may race as an Under 23 or Senior but not as an Under 16 or Over 34).

Senior and Veteran Women paddlers may compete in a doubles crew in Senior and Veteran Men kayak races of the same or higher ranking.

All paddlers must prove current comprehensive PUK/PS/CW/PNI with membership or associate membership of an affiliated club. Entries are welcome from overseas paddlers who are members of their own ICF affiliated federation. All competitors must be valid members on race day.

National Title Eligibility

An athlete must either be a British Citizen and a current member of Paddle UK; or have been both a resident in the United Kingdom and a member of Paddle UK for at least two years.

Racing Rules

The Marathon Nationals will be run under the Canoe Marathon Racing Rules 2025. The information below includes extracts from this document, but it is recommended that it is read in full, via the link above.

The Paddle UK Marathon Racing Committee reserves the right to promote or demote on the basis of the results at this event.

Club Vests

Paddlers must race in their club vest to be eligible for points and trophies.

Number Boards

Team Leaders will be given a pack of pre-numbered boards for all boats and must be used. The use of any other number boards may result in your result not being counted.

All paddlers must use these number boards which MUST be held securely with a pin. This will be checked at boat control. It is the TEAM LEADERS responsibility to ensure that each athlete uses their correct number and to ensure the boards are returned after racing.

Retirements

All competitors who fail to finish must report to a Marshal and inform them of their boat number and the fact that they have retired. Failure to do so will delay results being processed.

Buoyancy Aids

Buoyancy aids are compulsory for all Under 10 and Under 12 paddlers and those ranked in Division 7, 8 and 9, irrespective of the race they are entered in.

This applies in singles and doubles races. Team leaders should decide if other paddlers should wear a buoyancy aid according to prevailing conditions. Buoyancy aids must comply with either the European Standard ‘EN393 or 395 or the International Standard ‘ISO 12402’.

Boat Checking

All boats must have sufficient buoyancy to remain afloat and to support the crew in the event of capsize. No boat will be deemed to be sufficiently buoyant purely as a result of its construction (eg vac bagged/sandwich or other construction) to fulfil this requirement, additional fixed buoyancy will be required in the form of foam, air bags and/or sealed bulkheads.

All crews must pass through the Boat Check with their boat and race number board before getting on the water.

Once boats have been checked they must all remain in the pre-race holding area.

If you are taking part in the ‘B’ races, do not present your boat for checking before the ‘A’ races have started, ‘C’ races before ‘B’ race starts, and so on.

Once a boat has passed through boat checking it will be assumed that the paddler starts their race. If a paddler does not race it is their responsibility to notify Race Control.

Failure to go through Boat Control will result in disqualification from the race.

General Safety

Competitors must be able to swim adequately in the waters on which the race is being held.

All paddlers are required to render assistance to other competitors in distress.

Kit Requirements

Competitors must wear appropriate clothing for the weather conditions on the day. In the event of cold weather, paddlers considered by the race organisers to be too lightly dressed will not be permitted to take part.

In order to protect against injury, it is strongly recommended that all competitors wear shoes with a suitable rubber sole when getting on and off the water and when racing.

Getting on the water

Paddlers will need to cross Thames Side to access the river. All competitors must use the marshalled crossing point to cross the road.

Overnight Boat Storage

Laleham park is a public open space. It is highly recommended that no items should be left overnight, and anything people do leave will be at their own risk.

Results

Live results will be available on-site on the day.

Provisional results will be published live to canoemarathon live results on the day.

Final results will be published on the PaddleUK Marathon Racing Entries and Results site within 7 days following the race.

Prizes

There will be prizes for winners of each category and National Marathon Championship Medals will be awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd all in a quorate National Championship race.

Winners of perpetual trophies will be presented with their trophy, be aware however that trophies are kept centrally by the Paddle UK Marathon Racing Committee.

Race classes

Seeded and Combined Starts

Seeded Starts

The organisers reserve the right to seed starts where the number of entries to a class is larger than is suitable to reasonably fit on a single line. Where this is deemed necessary boats will be seeded based on Hasler Division.

The number of boats seeded will be determined based on the number and ability of the entries.

A list of classes where seedings are to be applied will be made available at the earliest possible point after entries have closed. Instructions for how these starts will work will also be issued. Late changes to crew boat may not result in re-seeding. This will be at the discretion of the organisers.

Combined Starts

Where races are sufficiently small to reasonably allow combining, the organisers may combine starts. A list of combined starts will be published at the earliest opportunity. Information on if combined starts will be treated as two sets of results or a single race will be issued with the list of combined starts.

Race briefings

All paddlers should attend the race briefing, which will be held 30 minutes before each block of race starts.

Assessment races/selection policy

A number of races over the weekend will act as assessment races. For more information see:

https://canoemarathon.org.uk/race-organisation/international-selection/