Specific Rules for the Australian Schools Championship

Philosophy

The Australian Schools Slalom and Whitewater Championships is a participation event aimed at:

  1. Encouraging schools to incorporate the sports of Canoe Slalom and Wildwater Racing into their official school sport program.
  2. Encouraging friendship and fostering interschool competition on a national level.
  3. Providing an environment where young Athletes can perform to the best of their abilities, be that at the elite or the development level.

Objectives

  1. To acknowledge the best Athletes in individual, pairs and teams events.
  2. To acknowledge the best schools.
  3. To promote healthy competition between AustralianSchools and individual student Athletes.

Principles

  1. Australian Canoeing Inc (AC) together with the National Slalom and the Wildwater Technical Committee is responsible for the conduct of the event. The course should be on grade 2 water unless otherwise agreed to by the National Slalom Committee and/or the National Wildwater Committee.
  2. The course design should be achievable by an average Athlete
  3. The event should be conducted in a spirit of fun, good sportsmanship and friendship.
  4. Any selection event attached to the event should take second priority after the above.
  5. Safety must be a high priority.

Background

General

  1. The event should be conducted in conjunction with the National Championships as part of a carnival of paddling.
  2. The event, if practical, should be conducted during the schools’ Christmas break, or other major school holiday, to promote both school and family involvement.

Entries

  1. Should be received from the school, and club athletes are to be encouraged to form a team from their school.
  2. All entries are via the online entry system on the Australian Canoeing (AC) website.
  3. Fees need to accompany entry unless otherwise agreed with the Competition Organiser.
  4. For schools competition, age classification will be taken from the 30th December.
  5. Classes: K1, C1 and C2 will be offered in Open, U17, U16,U15, U14,U13 and U12 years for men and women. Mixed C2 (MxC2) class will be offered in Open, U16, U14 & U12 years.
  6. Teams Classes will be offered in all classes in Senior [Open to U15yrs] and Junior [U14 and U12 Years]. Each school may only enter two teams per school in each Senior and Junior Slalom class.
  7. Teams will be traditional format – 3 boats of one class per team.
  8. Athletes may enter up to three individual or pair events in slalom and one slalom team’s event.
  9. Constitution of a class.
    For a class to be contested there must be a minimum of three entries, at the close of late entries, and two starters. The only exception to this will be in Open Class, where less than three entries will still constitute a class. If there is not a constituted class, Athletes will be moved up to the next available age group.
  10. Medals.
    To award a Gold medal there must be a minimum of two athletes start the event. For Silver medal to be awarded there must be a minimum of three starters and for a Bronze medal to be awarded there must be a minimum of four starters.
  11. Points for trophies and awards will also follow the same format as the presentation of medals so will be awarded on constituted classes only.
  12. Athletes must have been full time students at Primary or Secondary school on the last day of expected attendance for the year. Acceptance of any entries outside these criteria will be at the discretion of Canoe Slalom Australia. Acceptance of Athletes aged U11 will be at the discretion of the Canoe Slalom Australia.
  13. Pairs and teams must consist of Athletes from the same school. In the case of single sex schools, they may nominate a ‘brother/sister’ school with whom they may pair for mixed events. All mixed crews from those schools must be from only the two nominated schools. Such brother sister schools must be nominated on the entry forms. Athletes from small schools may join with other schools to race where they cannot make a team within their own school. Any of these mixed school teams not nominated as ‘brother/sister schools’ are ineligible for medals or to accrue points for overall champion trophies.
  14. The entry form must be signed by the School to confirm that students are currently enrolled on the last school day of the year.
  15. Entries must be accompanied by evidence of club membership for all Athletes or payment of “triallist” insurance.

Late Entries and Alterations to Entries

  1. Entries close December 25th2008.
  2. Late entries will be accepted at the discretion of the organisers and only if there is room in the program.
  3. The surcharge for late entries is $30 per athlete.
  4. Only 50% of a nominated C2 crew may be substituted after entries are lodged.
  5. Individual Athletes may not be substituted.
  6. Teams must be entered via the AC Online system. Numerical entries (i.e. the number of teams per School entering) and entry fees must be received by the 1st January 2009, with the samelate entry policy applying as with individual entries.

Rules

  1. The event shall be conducted under the Competition Rules nominated by Canoe Slalom Australia () unless specifically stated in this document.
  2. For Slalom, placing will be determined by the aggregate of two runs for all age groups apart from U14,U13 years and U12 years where the best run will determine the placegetters.
  3. All Athletes may have one non-stop practice run in one class only on the course at the advertised time
  4. No allowances for boat sharing will be made within a class. Boat sharing needs to be managed by the school to ensure the program is not held up. This will avoid the disappointment of not being able to start. Athletes not at the start line at the designated start time will not be permitted to start.
  5. The Organisers reserve the right to modify the course for U14years and below following the release of the course design

Craft

  1. All craft, buoyancy vests and helmets must comply with the requirements outlined in the relevant ICF Rules (effective January 14th, 2007) and will be scrutinized for dimensions, weight, buoyancy, handholds and safety in accordance with these rules.
  2. All craft must be fully decked. C2 open or semi decked craft are not permitted.
  3. To promote participation Plastic (decked) craft will be permitted to compete.

Awards

  1. Awards will be given to first, second and third place in each class dependent on number of starters in event (see Entries – Constitution of Class, Entries - Medals).
  2. Where there is an equal result, both parties will be given equal. A count back system will not be implemented thus where equal 1st placing occur, no silver medal will be awarded.
  3. Athletes may only win a medal in the class they enter

Points System

Points will be awarded to Athletes on a 5,3,2,1 basis in the overall Champion Schools competition and 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, for Individual Champion point scores.

School Trophies

The following perpetual trophies will be awarded in the National Schools Competition:

  • OverallChampionSchool Award – most points
  • Winning Girls Team – most points
  • Winning Boys Team – most points
  • WinningSmallSchool – most points gained by a school with less than 10 participants

Individual Champion Awards

The following perpetual trophies will be awarded for individual champions:

  • Senior Male – Athletes in the Open & U16 year groupings
  • Senior Female – Athletes in the Open & U16 year groupings
  • Junior Male – Athletes in the U14 & U12 year groupings
  • Junior Female – Athletes in the U14 & U12 year groupings

Method:

  1. For a particular event (eg K1 Slalom) the performances of all the Athletes in the age range are ranked from fastest to slowest and points awarded on a descending basis, accordingly.
  2. For Senior athletes, this will be based on the aggregate of the two runs in Slalom events. Juniors ranking will be based on the best run.
  3. Should a Junior class have insufficient entrants to form a constituted race, and these athletes are required to compete in a Senior age group race, their best run time will be carried back for consideration in collating points for the Individual Junior Awards.
  4. Where the ages of paddlers competing in the same boat in either an individual C2 or mixed C2 event are such that one is Senior and the other Junior, then the event will not be valid for consideration in the Junior Individual Championship points. A Juniors-only boat moved up due to the requirement to have a constituted class will still be considered for the Junior awards and their best run time will count.
  5. The two best individual Slalom performances (from K1, C1, C2, or MxC2 individual event) are to be included to give an individual their points score.
  6. Team events cannot accrue points for the Individual awards.
  7. Only one C2 event will be valid for inclusion in the individual points score.

International Athletes

  1. International Athletes will be permitted to enter under the same rules as Australian Athletes.
  2. Awards [medals] will be awarded to the top three Australians.
  3. The title of Australian Schools Champion will belong to the best performed Australian Athlete
  4. International Athletes will receive their appropriate medal in conjunction with the Australians as above; i.e. if an International Athlete wins the event both the International Athlete and the fastest Australian Athlete will receive a gold medal. Silver will be awarded to the next fastest athlete. If this is also an international athlete then sliver would also be awarded to the second fastest Australian with the same pattern for bronze.It is possible that two gold, two silver and two bronze medals could be presented for one event.
  5. International Athletes are not eligible for Individual Senior and Junior awards or for School Trophies.

Organisation

  1. The 2008 National Schools Slalom Championships is organised by Canoe Tasmania (Slalom & Wildwater Committee)
  2. Schools are required to provide volunteers to assist with running of the event.
  3. After the Championships a de-brief meeting will be held by the organizers with the Team Leader from each school to discuss possible improvements for the next event. This should be done in a meeting, but could be done by written reports.

Safety

  1. The organizing committee must have a documented Risk Management Plan
  2. All Athletes must be competent at capsize drill and self rescue.
  3. Water Safety is provided by the organising committee, however slalom athletes must stay on the water until the next two Athletes have finished.
  4. Professional First Aid is in attendance.
  5. Athletes and all people must at all times follow the directions of the water safety staff at all times.

Ages Groups

Ages groups for the 2008 Australian Schools Championships will be as follows:

National Schools

Australian Canoe Kayak Slalom Schools Championship Events
Date of Competition / 4/01/2009
Reference date for Age Group calculations / 31/12/2008
Born on or after / Born on or before
Open / 30/12/1986
U23 years / 31/12/1986 / 30/12/1991
U18 years / 31/12/1990 / 30/12/1991
U17 years / 31/12/1991 / 30/12/1992
U16 years / 31/12/1992 / 30/12/1993
U15 years / 31/12/1993 / 30/12/1994
U14 years / 31/12/1994 / 30/12/1995
U13 years / 31/12/1995 / 30/12/1996
U12 years / 31/12/1996

Classes offered, individual and team, are described in the Entries section of this document.