With the summer Olympic Games now over, you might have found yourself watching the events in awe of our athletes. In a Ground-breaking year for British athletes on home soil we won  gold medals including our first ever gold in the canoe slalom C2 event, as Tim Baillie and Etienne Stott made history, with David Florence and Richard Hounslow taking the silver medal too. You have probably also felt inspired by these our athlete's achievements to have a go at some sport yourself.

Canoeing is one of the best exercises for your body as well as being one of the most exhilarating too. However, Canoeing is often grouped together under the same practice as kayaking, despite there being several differences between them. The most frequent difference is that racing kayaks are seated and participants paddle with the use of a double-bladed paddle whereas canoes are usually guided with a single-bladed paddle.

The introduction of Canoeing as a recreational sport is widely regarded as occurring after 19th century Scottish explorer John MacGregor returned to the UK from a camping trip on the USA and Canada and decided to recreate the kind of canoes that he travelled around these countries in. He subsequently published a book about his journeys entitled ‘A Thousand Miles in the Rob Roy Canoe" which was very well received by readers around the globe. In 1866 he founded the Royal Canoe Club and their first official canoeing competition known as the ‘Paddling Challenge Cup ‘took place in 1874. It was at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin Canoeing was first recognized as an Olympic event.

There are many different other styles of canoeing used for recreational purposes. Some of these forms are practiced on an international level as individual, group, or club activities. Small-craft Sailing was developed by kayak enthusiasts but the activity's use of small-craft sails make for an excellent style of canoeing too. This kind of canoeing is aided by use of a ‘WindPaddle' which requires less effort for paddling and reduces the need paddle entirely.

Another great canoeing experience is White-water rafting which involves paddling down white-water rivers to make for an exhilarating recreation and/or competition event. The length of White-water these trips can vary from short tours on easy grade rivers, to extensive excursions on intense rivers located in more distant locations which require use of additional equipment and accessories. White-water Kayaking becoming the most practiced style of canoeing, as White-water canoeing provides a greater challenge for canoeing enthusiasts because of the increasing technical ability it requires when compared to more traditional paddling styles. White-water rafting's popularity has resulted in the greater availability of white-water open boats for public purchase in recent years.