A major project of the Ukrainian Rafting Federation was launched in the beginning of the new 2020. The main objective of the project is to promote the sport rafting among children by providing year-round training. It covers 8 cities and many schools, said Oleksandr Bakanychev, the President of the federation.

With the support of the Ministry of Education, more than 450 pupils between the ages of 10 and 15 start training rafting in physical education classes. In Kiev, 139 children train three times a week in swimming pools. Boys are 75% of those willing. Project funding of around € 50.000 is provided by sponsors. The bulk of it is for pool fees and coaches as 50% of the coaches are volunteers.

The pupils in the countryside will start training by the end of February. In a year, the state will get also involved in financing the big project. It was hard to find sponsors and convinced the people from the Ministry of education to change their programs for years because of the advantages of the sport rafting, but we managed, shared the President.

From 26th to 28th November the Nepal Rafting and Canoeing Association organised the 18th Himalayan Whitewater Challenge on Bhotekoshi River, East of Kathmandu. 16 teams participated and paddled the 4th level rapids of the Tibetan river (“bhoṭiyā" means Tibetan and “kosi” means river), the steepest whitewater rafted in Nepal with a an elevation source of 8012 m and a gradient of 15 m per km.

The first team to cross the finish line was KapileswarAmb, followed by Sindhu Parlatan and Balephi M Vidalaya and we’ll probably see athletes from these extreme teams representing Nepal in India at the Asian Championship of the next November: India 2020.

Nepal National team has been selected! 

Last November the rapids of Bhotekoshi already saw many rafters paddling during the18th Himalayan Whitewater Challenge. Now, from 20th to 24th February, Nepal Rafting & Canoeing Association set up the 4th National Rafting Championship, concurrently with the 8th National Kayak Slalom Championship, on the Tibetan River. 14 teams competed in the section of the Sukute village, in the Sindhupalchok district, coming from different corners of the country including various clubs, river operator companies and the Nepal Army.

Nepal Kayak Club took the first place in the Downriver that guaranteed a second place overall to the team. With a bronze in the downriver but a gold in the other disciplines Nepal Raft & Kayak Club Fislhing A is the 2020 National Champion and the Nepal flagship for the next international competitions. Third step of the podium taken by Paddle Nepal A team.

We can’t wait to see these rafter from Trishuli river at our races: see you in India at the Asian Championship and in Slovenia for the Worlds!

WRF is honored and proud to announce that on Wednesday 29/07, Thursday 30/07, Friday 31/07, Saturday 1/08 and Sunday 2/08/2020 will take place the 1st worldwide conference from the World Rafting Federation about training for River Guide and Coach, in l’Argentière la Bessée in France and on the Dora Baltea river in Italy.

This conference is an important step in the recently history of the WRF, the governing body for all aspect of Sport Rafting, especially international competitions, leisure and recreational rafting, and all others disciplines directly connected to Rafting.

This event will allow us to present and explain the structure of the WRF Training Programme for River Guide and Coach, in order to create a dynamic and positive relationship between the WRF members, to share practices and open debates over the training of the river guides and coaches, in the perspective to reach the WRF main goals which are the achieving common training standards for River Guide and Coach, and the international mobility for the technicians and athletes.

Regarding the specificity of the topics, this conference is destinated only to the responsible of the National Training Commission of the Rafting Federation members of the WRF, which will receive by mail the invitation and the programme of this event.

Step by step growing and performing!

The WRF agonistic season is open! Argentina hosted the first event of the 2020 sport season: 16 teams participated in the PanAmerican 2019-2020 Rafting Cup held on 16th, 17th and 18th November, concurrently the National Kayak Championships. 

Torrentes team from Argentina won the gold with the home court advantage in the U23 Men Category, home called Ruka Choroy and Aluminé rivers (both 3rd/4rd level): Tomas Ermocida, Franco Zapata, Gaston Magaña, Arian Torres and Tomas Capelari.

The Open Men, Oper Women and Mix Category were taken by the one week old National Champions of Chile: Araucanos (Christian Huenchuleo, Matias De Ferrari, Anand Heredia Valdes and Lorenzo Gomez), Loicas (Nicole Plagemann, Tabata Araya, Yarela Munoz, Cony Molina and Camila Ortega) and Galacticos (Nicole Plagemann, Yarela Munoz, Christian Huenchuleo and Matias De Ferrari), selected at the beginning of November, seem ready for the 2020 season, especially for the Continental Championships that their country will organise next season.

Now it’s time to train, because the countdown to the Continental Champs is already started and Solkan 2020 is waiting for you all.

Whitewater is already calling from the Balkans: 2 months and we’ll be back in the water!

From 20th to 22th March Croatia will open the WRF season with the Euro Cup in Slunj, where Korana river flows straight into the Slunjčica, drawing the amazing waterfalls we fell in love with 2 years ago, at the first WRF event in 2018.

The beginning of the season will not stop there for many rafters: Bulgarian teams will go straight from Slunj to their National Champs, but not alone.

The Struma river will host the first Grand Prix of the World Rafting year: from 27th to 29th March Slalom, RX and Downriver will not only decide the Bulgaria's names you will meet in Solkan at the World Champs, but also inaugurate the international season for the National teams who will join the event. Every National team is warmly invited to paddle in the Kresna Gorge, where the whitewater flows from the Vitosha mountains into the 3rd level rapids of a 18 kms green natural scenario.

Yesterday, on 13th November 2019 the WRF President Danilo Barmaz and the Indian Rafting Federation President Shaukat Sikand, in presence of the WRF General Secretary Matteo Benciolini, signed the agreement that officially designated India as the host organizer of WRF 2020 Asian Rafting Championship. 

From 7 to 11 October 2020 the small town of Manali, in the Himachal Pradesh state, will welcome the Senior national teams of Asia for the Continental title. The Beas river will be in flood after the summer rain, guaranteeing a 3rd/4rd level of whitewater, that in autumn runs fast down the green Kullu valley. 

Shaukat Pal Singh Sikand discovered rafting in December 1984, paddling on Gange during a historical expedition on the Indian sacred river. Since then he travelled around the world, starting from Oregon (USA), becoming the first Indian to be certified as a rafter, on Rouge river, to more than 50 countries visited exploring and competing in whitewater. Mr Sikand took part to a National Geographic project in South America and since 2017 is the Race Coordinator and Director of Expedition India, an adventure racing that challenges athletes from all over the world including mountain biking, trekking, rafting, rope work and orienteering. He is now the experienced President of the Indian Rafting Federation and is already working hard for a great whitewater event, in October 2020.