Paddlecast

In temperatures reaching 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Farenheit), the best marathon canoe paddlers in Europe battled for the titles of European Champion. Ivan Lawler spent the weekend watching every race and commentating for the Paddle Europe live stream. Betsy joined in commentary for three of those days. But there was still more to talk about off-air. The two most exciting races of the weekend...

Reigning European Champions Anna Sletsjøe and James “Jimbo” Russell have just a few short days before they have to face the best in Europe to defend their 2025 titles. The 2026 European Marathon Championships start on Wednesday 24th June and continue until Sunday 28th June in Pitesti, Romania on the Pitesti-Bascov course. Anna and James revisit the races they won this time last year to earn their...

70 miles from Cooperstown to Bainbridge in upstate New York, the General Clinton Canoe Regatta is the first race in the annual Triple Crown of Canoe Racing. On this special episode of Paddlecast, Rebecca Davis joins Betsy to talk about marathon canoe racing versus marathon canoe racing, and who are the top contenders to win this year’s Clinton on Sunday May 24th. Betsy will be live streaming the G...

The world’s biggest marathon race is in Estonia, and it’s only been around for 20 years. The Võhandu Marathon starts on Lake Tamula in the city of Võru, and follows the Võhandu River for 100 kilometres to the Võõpsu boat harbor in Põlvamaa. 1,341 boats started the race in 2025, the largest participation yet. The types of paddlers tackling the Võhandu run the gamut from those who’ve never held a pa...

"The canoeist's Everest." "The hardest thing I've ever done." "I can do anything now". There's a million ways to describe the feeling of walking up the steps at Westminster Bridge having completed 125 miles of paddling. But every paddler who's done it knows the same feeling. On Easter Sunday, more than 80 intrepid paddlers experienced the feeling of fi...

125 miles (200 km) from a small town in the countryside to the centre of one of the biggest cities in the world. DW 2026 is finally here! The competition will be fierce, with returners and newly formed crews fighting hard for the win. In the race for the overall win, a Top 5 crews have become clear in recent weeks, with an outside chance for a 6th crew. Billy Butler / Jon O'Grady finished 2nd...

*Note - there are a few moments of small audio issues in this episode due to technical/internet issues while recording, but it should still be listenable. Please bear with us and thanks for your patience. It's the most famous canoe race in Africa, and one of the most famous races in the world -- so much so that there's a whole film about it, "Beyond the River."The Dusi River Cano...

2024 brought some of the highest highs and lowest lows for Britain’s international sprint kayak racing programme. The high: it was Team GB’s most successful Paralympics ever with a record 8 medals. The low: for the first time ever, not a single GB athlete qualified to race canoe sprint at the Paris Olympics. So in January 2025, Paddle UK brought on Ekaitz Saies. Ekaitz raced internationally for Sp...

NOTE: This was recorded in July 2024 before certain equipment upgrades and the audio quality isn’t great, thanks for bearing with us. "The toughest canoe race in the world". That's how the Texas Water Safari bills itself. So if it’s the toughest race in a canoe, how much harder is it on a stand up paddleboard? SUP ultra paddler John Knippers decided to find out for himself. And in do...

It's time to look back on 2025 in paddling. Across disciplines, paddlers from around the world have stepped up to make huge gains on the water, hit new personal bests, shock the world by demolishing their competitors, and accomplish feats that seemed impossible. On Season 1 of Paddlecast, Betsy and Billy have been blown away by what paddlers have achieved this year, often exceeding all expecta...

For many paddlers in the northern hemisphere, it’s that time of the season to put your head down, hats and pogies on, and just focus on strength and mileage. But in warmer climes, the racing is heating up. Today, Paddlecast heads to Hong Kong, Australia, and Reunion to catch up on 20 Beaches, Mox the Dragon Run, and the ICF World Cup in Reunion. Jon White joins Billy and Betsy to talk about his cu...

The ICF Stand Up Paddleboarding World Championships in Abu Dhabi last weekend featured record-breaking performances, first time world champions, and shocking upsets. Paddling icon and multiple SUP World Champion Michael Booth, of Booth Training and Boothcast, joins Paddlecast to talk all about the racing. Boothy, SUP Racer’s 2019 #1 man in the world rankings, flew to Abu Dhabi to race the long dis...

Durban was everything we dreamed of and more. Billy and Betsy dive into: what was going on with that shore break? Who handled it well, should the course run through such an intense shorey, and how viral did those videos go? But more importantly, what was going through the minds of some of the top paddlers when they were on the water? It was a long course of 34km in less wind what many paddlers hop...

It’s a double episode for Durban: Billy and Betsy make their predictions for who are the best candidates to win this year’s Canoe Ocean Racing World Championships in Durban, South Africa. And then reigning surfski world champion Kira Bester joins the conversation to talk about the conditions in Durban, two possible courses, and who she thinks could win. The ICF Canoe Ocean Racing World Championshi...

Ireland's most decorated paddler, Jenny Egan-Simmons, joins Paddlecast to talk everything Liffey. The Liffey Descent is one of the world’s longest running paddling races and the most iconic race in Ireland. Paddlers from Ireland, the UK, Europe, South Africa, and around the world flock to Dublin to race 30 kilometres, 1 portage, and 10 weirs. Notable former winners include reigning marathon wo...

The Thames 200 Ultra may only be in its second year, but it’s already one of the fastest growing ultra paddling races in the world. 2025’s race drew some of the UK’s best marathon talent and offered exciting action all the way to the end with finishing times just minutes apart over 200 km for both the relay race and the non-stop solo race. Billy and Betsy recap the Chelmsford vs. Richmond relay ba...

Billy and Betsy were both on the ground in Győr, Hungary for the 2025 World Championships which treated fans to thrilling races, surprising upsets, and tactical genius. First up: the most exciting races. As incredible as it is to see one paddler dominate a race from start to finish, or see a crew that hasn’t lost a world title in years earn one more to keep up their streak… The best races have une...

For a record 4th time, in the “City of Rivers”, Canoe Marathon World Championships starts in Gyor, Hungary this week. The best of the best will battle for “World Champion 2025” titles on the Danube itself to roaring crowds of local fans. In this episode, Billy and Betsy preview the racing in depth. They start by examining the course, how it's changed since the last time Gyor hosted marathon wo...

The Thames 200 Ultra, one of the most accessible and action-packed ultra paddling races in the world, starts Saturday. After its inaugural year in 2024, this year has more paddlers, more relay teams, and tighter racing! Betsy and Billy preview this epic race in full – what makes it unique, why so many top end marathon paddlers are racing, who the most likely category winners are, and where to expe...

It might be the most iconic marathon race in the world. The Sella Descent starts with hundreds of boats on the beach while paddles, held by paddlers, are locked into a cage not dissimilar to the starting gate at a horse race. As soon as hundreds of thousands of spectators finish singing the Asturian anthem, the gates open, and racers break loose. Easily the biggest event of the year for Asturians...

In the Paddlecast preview episode last week, Billy and Betsy predicted epic battles at the World Games marathon kayak racing in Chengdu, China. The event, considered the Olympics of non-Olympic sports, delivered. And even better, some of the champions themselves join this episode to reveal the pivotal moments in their own races. Both the men’s and women’s races quickly went from large packs to sim...

Once every four years, twenty countries send their fastest marathon kayaker to battle for the World Games title. Quirky yet prestigious, the World Games offers an Olympics-style event for non-Olympic sports. In the Canoe category, the World Games will also feature Canoe Polo and Dragonboat. Chengdu 2025 in China is only the second time that marathon canoe has featured as a full event (rather than...

It’s official! Sebastian Szubski completed his circumnavigation of Britain in a record-breaking 37 days. Betsy talks about what she learned from Sebastian and his crew at his finish in Scotland, and Billy contextualises Sebastian’s record in the bigger history of Round Britain records. They consider where the record should go from here. At the Gorge, it was an epic showdown between 2024 defending...

This week's news episode of Paddlecast aired LIVE on YouTube and Facebook. Sebastian Szubski is in the final few days of his circumnavigation of Britain, and he could either beat the 40 day record by several days or it could come down to the wire. It all depends on the next 48 hours. Billy and Betsy give their analysis and predictions on when he'll finish. And you can make your own predict...

As Sebastian Szubski rounded Land’s End this week, Billy finally became convinced that the 40 day record was going to fall. It’s been as tight as anything between Sebastian’s progress and Dougal’s 40 day record up to this point, but there shouldn’t be much left that can stop Sebastian now. The biggest moment of Sebastian’s progress last week was his 100km+ crossing of Lyme Bay. Billy and Betsy wer...