What do the Starter, Referees and Turn Point Umpires do?

CKC sprint uses a Starter and Referees on the water, and Turn Point Umpires on long distance races. There is no separate aligner or course umpire role in the Officials Manual: Referees position and space crews, and judge the course.

• Starter: tells upcoming crews to stay in the immediate area, runs the countdown and the "READY - SET - GO" start, handles false starts, and reports false starts, disqualifications and absentees to the Chief Official. The Starter's duties finish once the sterns of all boats have cleared the 25 m mark.
• Referees: work from separate boats, each patrolling half of the course (or the proportion they agree), with equal power to judge, stop the race, caution or disqualify any crew or competitor under the Rules. Their jurisdiction runs from the start of the race until its final termination. A Referee must ensure all crews are accounted for before the start procedure, give direction on aligning in correct sequence, space crews at their discretion for the conditions, and be the judge of a boat's own water and proper course. Each Referee carries red and white flags and signals their decision on the race at the end of it.
• Turn Point Umpire (long distance races): stationed at every turn point with the best view of the turn, sees that competitors turn according to the rules, and reports to the Chief Official after the race and before results are announced on who has turned and whether any infraction took place.
• Clearing the course: the Referee and/or Starter may have to clear the course and have crews stop paddling if a race is lining up or under way and has not passed returning crews. Interfering power or sailboats must be asked to clear the course.

Source: Canoe Kayak Canada Officials Manual (rev. March 2023), sections 12.1, 14.2 to 14.4; CKC Sprint Competition Rules 2024-2026 (June 2025), rules 4.02 to 4.04.