Coli Cross – Presented by Ottawa Kayak School

Coli Cross is a new Kayak Cross-style event for the 2025 season!

The new and exciting kayak cross event made waves at the 2024 Paris Olympics! This event introduced mass-produced whitewater kayaks, 9ft and under, to the Olympic audience on a course ranging from 150m to 400m.

The Main Channel of the Ottawa River is home to two well-known rapids, Normans and Coliseum, and as luck would have it, the distance of the two together is 400m long.

So in true Ottawa Kayak School style, we are proud to introduce our new event for the 2025 season, a riff on Kayak-Cross, named Coli-Cross. Nearly all Kayak-Cross rules will apply to Coli-Cross except for the following:

1. Due to the forested nature of the river, competitors will not be seal-launching into the river but will instead start from the shoreline in a boater-cross fashion.
2. Rather than a kayak roll mid-race, there will be a mandatory kickflip attempt at the competitors’ discretion between the start and finish line of the race course.

Read More about the ICF Kayak Cross rules:

Race Information:

Starting at high noon on July 6th, racers will compete in heats of four until only one remains in each class. An after-party featuring food and event highlights will be held at the Ottawa River Barn where the Coli-Cross champions will be crowned!

Click Here: $30 CAD to Register for Coli-Cross online

**The top 5 in both the Men’s and Women’s at each event will receive a cash payout based on the number of competitors in each class**

Questions? Feel free to send your questions to either Joel Kowalski – [email protected] or Casey Bryant Jones – [email protected]