The International Canoe Federation, in conjunction with National Federations around the world and the kind support of the German and Hungarian Canoe Federations, is embarking on a program to ensure more developing nations have access to boats.

The ICF is determined to continue the growth of canoeing sports worldwide, with programs that have already seen the development of athletes in many countries with very little history in the sport.

But one of the biggest hurdles for the ICF Development Programme is a lack of equipment, and boats especially, in many countries.

"The ICF would like to get more boats to these countries where the sport could be developed further," ICF vice president and head of development, Cecilia Farias, said.

"The ICF relies on the generous support of manufacturers’ donations (such as, Nelo, Vadja and Plastex), to support our development programme, but this is insufficient to meet the demands of these developing countries in our sport.

"The ICF would like National Federations and their members to check in their boathouses to see if there are usable boats (without damage) that can be donated to these countries. The ICF will be happy to receive boats regardless of the model."

Fellow ICF vice president Thomas Konietzko said it did not matter how old the boats are, as long as they are in good condition.

"The older boats are better for beginners as they are much more stable than the more modern models," he said.

"Please, be part of our initiative to support paddling activities around the globe. The ICF will arrange a collection point in Europe at the ICF World Cups in 2018.

"We kindly ask you to bring all these boats for donation to the 2018 ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup 1 (Szeged) and World Cup 2 (Duisburg).

"Several National Federations have already contributed and we hope more Federations will join this initiative. It is a great beginning and we kindly ask your Federation to join this collective effort to support developing countries."

The German and Hungarian Canoe Federations have generously offered support to send the used boats after the World Cups in containers to the developing National Federations.

"Should Non-European countries wish to donate but are unable to get their boats to the above locations you can contact Thomas or myself for further information," Ms Farias said.

"Thanks for your support in this initiative. We hope together we can help many kids’ paddling dreams become a reality."