Ability Classes and Age Classes

Ability Classes

Ben Gallacher was promoted from BAK to MAK when he was under 18 in June 2017. This hadn't been documented on his paddler record.

His original entry was in MAK but then we saw that he was U18 and checked his paddler details, as there was no promotion noted there, I switched him to BAK. For the May he will need to race in his ability class which is MAK.

Unfortunately, we will have to reinstate him as MAK moving his entries from BAK to MAK.

Please, note Item 7 about the Classification of Paddlers on page A8 of the Racing Handbook.

SUP Ability Classes

The following SUP Ability Classes are available in the system:

SUPEM = SUP Elite Men
SUPEW = SUP Elite Women
SUPOM = SUP Open Men
SUMOW = SUP Open Women
SUPB = SUP Junior Boys
SUPG = SUP Junior Girls

Age Classes

The system calculates age classes based on the combination of the following data from each paddler record

Date of birth
Gender
Kayak and/or Canoe

Multiple classes

If a paddler has more than one Ability Class and is selected as a member of a crew boat, is the matching Ability Class to the selected Event picked up?

Paddle-Ability and Paracanoe

Before registration to a Para class the athlete's personal classification is assessed in a formal classification process for this, they need to be in contact with the Paracanoe programme. If they have already gone through that process, then we need to contact Steve Train for confirmation of their classification.

If they wish to use a Va'a boat but are not fast enough for the Paracanoe they can race in the Paddle-Ability without any formal classification of their impairment. In that case they can be registered as PAD. The Va times for a Paddle-Ability are on this link Paddle-Ability – Canoe Sprint Racing UK, https://canoesprint.org.uk/regatta-info/paddle-ability/