The WRF’s strategic objective around gender equality calls for growing female participation at the World Championship to 50 per cent. The ultimate goal is to assist in removing barriers preventing women from participating in sport at all levels. This goal is reflected also in the introduction of the mixed category for the RX discipline.

REBECA FERNANDES, Vice President of the Associação Brasileira de Rafting, is a river lover and definitely an inspiring woman. She’s working in total agreement with our movement and she sends a letter to the Rafting World in this regard.

“Dear WRF,

Through many years of experience within competitive and commercial rafting, I come to present my company Mayim Rafting training for women, who has a new proposal regarding the training and qualification for women in Rafting.

Currently I dedicate myself to teaching and to the sport. The goal is to qualify the female gender through the development and adaptation of techniques in favour of the physical anatomy of the woman, to achieve her goals faster within the rafting. In my experience, woman needs physical and emotional resistance for the daily training that the activity requires.

Currently the sport and its proposed methods of qualification were developed by male gender majority.

Sometimes the mechanics creates discomfort for women in many factors such as the minimisation due to the reduction of the chest muscles and therefore the reduction of strength. Beyond that, there is the countless cases of harassment by colleagues, bullying due to clothing or simply because they are women.

Today I, Rebeca Fernandes, can see through my 16 years within the sport and international competitions, that the right moment for the strengthening of the female gender is now. I can also see that remained in the white-water world depends not only on a different qualification process, but also on a family environment, where women can feel welcome to develop their own techniques and skills without physical and moral harassment for simply having different anatomy and equipment that do not favour their practices.”

Straight forward women!

After the first Turkish Cup held in Beytüşşebap-Şırnak two weeks ago, Zap river hosted the second stage of the National Rafting Championship near the historical mountain town of Hakkari, south of Lake Van near the border with Iran and Iraq from 25th to 30th October 2020.

Minister of Youth and Sports of Turkish Republic Dr. Mehmet Muharrem KASAPOĞLU joined the event. After a speech during the opening ceremony he paddled the river Zap with the President of Turkish Rafting Federation Fikret YARDIMCI, 1700 meters above the sea.

Out of 25 Men, 11 Women and 10 Mix teams, these are the names of the winners:

U19 Man: Van-Catak Belediyesi Spor Kulübü-A Takimi

U19 Women: Tunceli Yurdum Spor Kulübü 

Open Man: Antalya Manavgat Spor Kulübü

Open Women: Tunceli Genclik Spor Kulübü

Mix: Antalya-Manavgat Spor Kulübü-B Takimi

For the third year in a row Zubin Potok hosted the European Rafting Cup, from 11th to 13th September on the middle course of the Ibar river, 

Kosovo 2020 has been the first international competition organised after lockdown, it has been challenging but successful.

9 teams from 4 nations competed in the 3 disciplines: with 2 gold medals in Slalom and Downriver and a bronze in the RX, Rafting Team Respect 1 from Bulgaria took the First Overall place.

The RX winners from Croatia, Rastočki Mlinari, celebrated the second step of the podium, while the Overall Bronze went to the second team from Bulgaria, Rafting Team Respect 2.

Due to the new measures introduced by the Government of Costa Rica the Pan-American Rafting Championship are cancelled.

The Continental event, previously scheduled to take place in Quepos, Puntarenas, at the beginning of December and firstly postponed to March 2021 because of the current Pandemic situation, is definitely underwritten.

From 7th to 11th October 11 Men, 5 Women and 5 mix teams took part in the Turkish Rafting Cup on the II level river Habur, located in the small town Beytüşşebap, Şırnak, in the South East of Turkey. The limited attendance caused by the current pandemic situation did not compromise a successful and promising event.

Turkish Minister of the Interior Mr. Süleyman Soylu and Minister of Youth and Sport Mr. Mehmet Muharrem Kasapoğlu attended the opening ceremony and paddled on the river for the first time, encouraged by the athletes and the President of the Turkish Rafting Federation Mr. Fikret Yardımcı who declared the river Habur and Beytüşşebap ideal for developing extreme nature sports such as rafting. Considering this potential local authorities of Beytüşşebap will invest in rafting, looking forward to host a similar event in the future.

Mr. Fikret Yardımcı very satisfied with the development and outcomes of the competition, congratulates the winner teams:

Man Category: İstanbul Üniversitesi Spor Kulübü

Women Category: Tunceli Gençlik Spor Kulübü

Mix Category: Muğla'dan Sarsala Spor Kulübü

After almost six months out of the water, isolation and restrictions because of the Covid-19 outbreak the Russian Rafting Federation organised the first 2020 competition from 20th to 25th August.

Altay Republic hosted the National Championship, brought together most regions of Russia and showed the strong desire of the athletes and the Federation to keep developing our river sport.

Despite the challenging worldwide situation, more than 50 teams took part to the competition where the highest level of safety and protection were provided by the RRF.

Catun river crowned Nikita Zhuravlev, Vladimir Kazanskiy, Vladimir Ananev and Ilya Lukyantsev as the 2020 National Champions of Russia in the Men category.

The Women winner team is composed by Malahova Vera, Kozhanova Ekaterina, Kozhanova Valentina and Chugunova Tamara.

“We are really proud to announce that RRF is successfully  pushing Covid-19 out of the river and country” declared the President of the Russian Federation, Mr. Aleksey Shirokov, “Your turn Next, Rafting World!”

From 16th to 27th November Turkish Rafting Federation is organising a successful Training Camp in collaboration with Minister of Youth & Sports of Turkey, Rize Governorship and Ardeşen Governorship.

The training camp is taking place on the shores of the Black Sea, in Ardeşen town, a district of Rize Province, focusing on the basic techniques of our water sport.

120 young rafters (U19 cathegory) and trainers from all over the country (Şırnak, Bingöl, Hakkari, Van, Ordu, Erzurum and Elazığ) are paddling everyday in R4 teams, sharing experiences and discovering and developing the rafting movement.

Athletes and trainers with international experiences are introducing dozens of young athletes to the river world.

Since 2002, European Mobility Week has sought to improve public health and quality of life through promoting clean mobility and sustainable urban transport.

The campaign gives people the chance to explore the role of city streets and to experiment with practical solutions to tackle urban challenges, such as air pollution.

Tunceli is one of the 551 Turkish cities (2943 cities in total, from 53 different countries) that took part to the event this year; on Tunceli’s river, Munzur, that hosted several National Rafting Cups and the WRF World Rafting Championship 2019, 10 Men and 5 Women teams joined a 6 km Down River Marathon organised by the Turkish Rafting Federation on 23rd Semotember.

The governor Mehmet Ali Özkan with local authorities and the President of the Turkish Rafting Federation Fikret Yardımcı awarded the medals to 

Women:

1. Tunceli Gençlik A Takımı

2. Tunceli Gençlik B Takımı

3. Tunceli Spor Lisesi

Men:

1. Palu Belediyesi Takımı

2. Bingöl Genç Murat Takımı

3. Tunceli Gençlik A Takımı

It was the first national event since the pandemic and it has been smooth and successful, respecting all the Covid-19 restriction, therefore Turkish Rafting Federation is going to organise a Turkish Rafting Cup from 7th to 11th October in Şırnak Province - Beytüşşebab on the river Habur.

After racing was put on hold because of the coronavirus outbreak, WRF Board and National Rafting Federations have been working to put together a plan to allow the season to begin safely.

The opening competitions of a revised calendar for the 2020/2021 season were discussed throughout this challenging time and WRF Board outlined the international season start.

The Continental Championships will kick off in Costa Rica: Alexander Segura Amador, President of the Federación Costarricense de Rafting, will host and organise the Pan American Rafting Championships 2020, previously scheduled in Argentina and delayed due to the COVID-19 situation.

The first week of February 2021 a III+ class river in the Manuel Antonio National Park, Quepos, on Costa Rica’s central Pacific coast, will welcome Senior R4 teams representing the countries attending from the whole American Continent.

Article updated on 29/08/2020