Canoe Slalom is an exciting adrenalin fuelled sport, where the paddlers have to negotiate their way down a 300m white water rapid. Paddlers race through a series of up to 25 gates, which are made up of red and green poles. The coloured poles determine the direction that the paddlers must pass through gates. Through the green gates you have to travel downstream through them and through the red gates you have to travel upstream through them. If you hit one of the gates you get a 2 second penalty added onto your time and if you miss a gate you get a 50 second penalty added onto your time.