Speed and cycle frequency of young paddlers in 1000m races

Abstract

The objective of this study was to analyze the evolution of the speed and cycle frequency during a 1000-m maxi- mal test in young paddlers (17 kayak men, 17 kayak women and 18 canoe men; 13-14 years-old). Speed and cycle frequency were taken from the recordings 4 cameras placed at 250-, 500-, 750- and 1000-m. The first quarter of the distance was the faster of the whole distance, after that the speed was stable in all the categories, but women kayak that increased their speed at the end of the distance. Cycle frequency decreased from the start of the race, but got the highest values in the last lap in women kayak and men canoe. Men kayak was significantly higher in speed than women kayak and men canoe, who were the slowest group. There were no significant differences in cycle frequency between groups. This article provides a new methodology to get the speed and cycle frequency in canoeing races that save time in comparison with used in previous researches.