Record-breaking numbers and a host of international paddlers, including the Bay of Plenty's Lisa Carrington, will headline this week's Canoe Racing New Zealand national championships.

Moved to Lake Karapiro on the Waikato River to cope with the scale of the event, the championships have attracted nearly 300 kayakers from New Zealand, Australia, Europe and around the Pacific.

Lisa Carrington. Photo: Jamie Troughton/Dscribe Media Services.

Headlining the world class field is Bay of Plenty and Olympic champion Carrington, along with team-mate and world champion Teneale Hatton.

Carrington won gold in Moscow last year in the women's K1 200m final and silver in the K1 500m event.

The pair will be joined in a strong open women's division by top Australians Naomi Flood and Jo Brigden-Jones, while a number of leading New Zealand men will be trying to further their Olympic ambitions.

Canoe Racing NZ chief executive Mark Weatherall says this year is an important one for high performance, although the health of the lower echelons are just as encouraging for the future.

'We'll have 76 female paddlers under 18-years of age,” says Mark.

'That's a huge jump from 2011 when we only had 71 females across all age groups.

'Obviously, the international performances of the likes of Lisa and Teneale have played a huge part, although there also seems to be a number of young kids coming through who are just passionate about paddling.

'They're the ones we're hoping to see on international podiums in years to come.”

Total kayaker numbers have been steadily increasing over recent years and the standard of competition has caught the eye of international athletes too.

The Australian duo of Flood and Brigden-Jones raced at the Blue Lakes regatta in Rotorua in December after a three-week training camp with Carrington in the South Island.

What they experienced encouraged the Olympic pair, who were part of the Australian K4 at the London games, to come back for nationals.

Pacific paddlers will also take part on the water, with former New Zealand sprint kayaker, whitewater slalom athlete and world champion rafter Anne Cairns selected to paddle for Samoa this year, while Guam, Tahiiti, Palau and the Cook Islands will also be represented.

The three-day national championships start tomorrow and go through until Sunday.