Step by step the international calendar is taking shape.

After the Covid-19 outbreak the Asian Championship planned for last October was suspended.

Everything in India was ready but nothing is gone: the resort town of Manali in the Himachal Pradesh state has to wait one year, and just for international athletes.

Indeed, the Indian Rafting Foundation will put in place its proven experience firstly organising the 14th National Championship in Manali from 24th to 28th March 2021.

Beas river flows through the Kullu valley

The race will be a springboard for the local organisation and will select the National teams for the season: we will see them in June at the World Champs in France and then “at home” paddling in Beas river again for the Continental title.

The class III+ river that rises in the Himalayas, almost 4000m above the sea level, will host its second race of 2021: WRF Asian Rafting Championship, from 6th to 10th October.

Indian team captains

Mr. Shaukat Pal Sing Sikand, Indian Rafting Foundation President, is satisfied with the Championships in March and October but that’s not all.

Many local events will be held all around India in order to increase the sport awareness among young generations  and two international River Festivals in August 2021 are official for now, where also safety kayakers are invited.

From 1st to 8th August a limited number of international teams can participate in the 5th Kashmir Rafting Cup on the river Sind, in the Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir state.

Sind river

From 19th to 22th August Ladakh River Festival, well known as one of the highest kayaking competitions, opens its doors: rafting in the namesake of modern India, the great Indus River.

Indus river

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

During the last months the WRF Training Guide Programme Commission worked on the structure and contents of our Training Programme, appointing its details, and shared the fundamental steps during an e-conference where National Training Responsibles and Presidents took part in November.

After the initial greetings of the WRF President Danilo Barmaz, Francesco Fiorini, WRF Sport and competitions Commission member, introduced Mr. Xavier Postiaux from Belgium and Mr. Christian Huenchuleo from Chile, responsible and member respectively of the WRF Training Guide Programme Commission, and experienced rafting guides.

Mr. Xavier Postiaux, rafting guide since 1996.

He worked and paddled on the rivers of Europe, Iceland, Russia, Nepal, Canada, Peru and Chile.

The present situation counts about 20 National Training Responsible. This pivotal figure is in charge to schedule the training of the river guide and coach on the whole national territory, to train the instructors, to guarantee the maintenance of the standards laid down by the WRF Commissions in accordance with the local structures. The National Training Responsible is also the appointed interlocutor with the WRF Training Commission, cooperating in the international fields.

The aim of the WRF concerning this issue is to rise the number of the National Training Responsible to 39, the current members of the World Rafting Federation, without replacing the local organisation but sharing experiences and knowledges that will give an input to designate strategic points. Our river world will not grow up “from above”: there are not WRF instructors, WRF guides or WRF coaches; the WRF Training Commission indeed supports the training of instructors on request from the members, providing documents, workshops and any help it can get to the National Federation. The WRF Executive Board, that monthly calls a virtual but critical meeting due to the current pandemic situation, reiterates the philosophical will to share and cooperate.

Four starting points named “WRF Center of Excellence” show the strategic significance of building a network.

Huenchuleo Christian from Chile, President of the National Federation and Co-manager of the WRF Training Programme Commission, is working on the WRF Centre at the UFRO (Universidad de la Frontera) in Pucon, where he is already an instructor and the training manager of the white water activities.

Mr. Huenchuleo Christian is also a member of the National Rafting Team.

In India, the President of the Indian Rafting Foundation Shaukat Pal Sing Sikand is preparing the Centre of Excellence that will organise the next Asian Rafting Championship: the Grajretreat Resort (Himachal Pradesh state), in the middle of the Himalayas, is ready to host a great competition on the III+ level river Beas.

WRF President Danilo Barmaz and Mr. Shaukat Pal Sing Sikand from India

In June 2021 the World Rafting Championship will be held in L’argentière La Bessée. The WRF Centre, inaugurated in February 2019, gave birth to the Agonistic Rafting in France: the first National Rafting Championship in history took place there, 3 months later.

L’Argentière La Bessée on Durance river, in the middle of the French Alps

Last, and definitely not least, Sarapiqui Paddle Sports represents the Centre of Excellence of Costa Rica. The already structured organisation is the result of the 27 years of experience in organising river adventures and will give a fundamental input to the rafting movement in Central America.

Sarapiqui Paddle Sports since 1993: exploration and education

The WRF Training Programme for River Guide and Coach is available on our website and exposes the minimum standards required for the training of instructors, river guides and coaches, analysing the double aspect of rafting: the leisure activity and the sport.

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

Cetina river, that flows from the Dinara mountain range to the Adriatic Sea, hosted the National Rafting Championship of Croatia on 14th-15th November. A long awaited return to the river, in compliance with the local provisions concerning the current pandemic situation, crowned the athletes who will compete under the Hrvatska flag at the WRF World Champs in France and the other 2021 international competitions.

The newly-elected President of the Rafting Committee Zdeslav Karlovac congratulated the winner team from Zagreb, Končar, on the overall victory: they got the gold in every discipline, slalom, RX and downriver, totalling 300,00 points. The silver medal went to the hosting club Cetina Raft (second place in slalom and downriver, third place in RX), while Rastočki Mlinari got the bronze (finalist in RX and third place in the other disciplines).

Mr. Zdeslav Karlovac has been declared satisfied of the general results, not only with the motivated teams but also with the whole organisation Comittee’s goal is the further development of our sport, structuring the disclosure in the clubs and raising sport performances, to achieve international results in the WRF competitions and benefit the whole river movement.

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.