About the German Competition

Concrete canoe racing began in Germany in 1986 when the first competition was held at Limburg an der Lahn.

Competitions were held every two years until 2002.  Then after a three year lag, the competition was reinstated in 2003 at Heidelberg .  

When the 11^th Deutsche Betonkanu-Regatta.was held in 2007 at Hanover, the top three finishers in both the men's and women's races automatically qualified to paddle against the world champions at WM 2007.

By 2011, over 90 teams were registering for the German nationals... with participants coming  from a number of other countries including Switzerland and the Netherlands. In 2014, Dresden reciprocated and fielded the lightest entry in the Netherlands.

GERMANY

If your concrete canoe competition is not being covered or this page needs to be updated... please let us know and we'll be glad to do it.

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2015 German Nationals - 15^th Deutsche Betonkanu-Regatta
Brandenburg, Germany
June 19-20, 2015

German Nationals scheduled in Brandenburg

Every few years, the German Cement Works Association (VDZ). organizes a special type of spectacular... a concrete canoe regatta.  The 2015 German National Concrete Canoe Competition will be held in Brandenburg. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the federal states that was re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. Brandenburg surrounds but does not include the national capital and city-state Berlin.

Competition Announcement

2015 Deutsche Betonkanu-Regatta Website

Check out this trailer for the German Nationals. Don't miss it!

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2014 BetonKanoRace - 37^th Anniversary
Almelo, Netherlands
May 30 - June 1, 2014

Dresden receives Best University and Lightest Canoe Awards in Netherlands

De betonkanorace (BKR) internationaal evenement jaar which inzendingen uit Duitsland en Polen inbegrepen was echt.

The 2014 BetonKanoeRace (concrete canoe race) was held in Almelo, a city located in eastern Netherlands. The Netwerkschool hosted the event.

At the competition, TU Dresden (Germany) won the award for best University while ROC van Twente Hengelo and Windesheim Zwolle were selected as the best MBO and HBO schools, respectively. 

During the competition, the BentonBrouwers from the University of Twente won the 400m men's and women's events, as well as the 200 m men's, women's, and co-ed races. Dresden won the rest of the races including the 400 m co-ed, as well as the 100 m men's, women's, and co-ed races, Dresden also won an award for the lightest canoe (38 kg) in the field.

Concrete canoe teams face off during the races. Photo by AlmeloNieuws.

 AlmeloNieuws (Article and Photos)

 AAFM (Article and Radio Interviews)

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2013 German Nationals - 14^th Deutsche Betonkanu-Regatta
Nuremberg, Germany
June 21-22, 2013

Twente Claims Victory

The 2013 German National Concrete Canoe Competition was held on Dozen large pond located in Southeast Nuremberg.

The University of Twente (Enschede, Netherlands) successfully defended their German title (results).

2013 Deutsche Betonkanu-Regatta Website

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About the University of Dresden

One of the most competitive schools in the German Nationals is the University of Dresden. They also won the Netherlands competition in 2014. 

Although Dresden's first concrete canoe is officially traced back to 1992, rumor has it that students there built a boat in 1988 that they raced it at the Beton Kanoe Race in Amsterdam.  But critics feel that this is unlikely, since the Berlin wall was still in place at that time making it difficult for the team to compete.

In any case, the University of Dresden has built some amazing concrete boats. For example, an ingenious craft, called the "Drehsden" ("Dreh" is German for rotate) was designed as a paddlewheel and won the open class in 2005.  It currently rests peacefully on the Dresden University campus (center) as a treasured work of art.