International Rafting Federation

World Rafting Championships

Contents:
a) WRC in Bosnia & Herzegovina - 2009
b) WRC in KOREA - June 2007
c) History
d) Disciplines
e) Past Results
f) Media for previous an upcoming events

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a) WRC in Bosnia & Herzegovina - 2009

Dates: 18 - 24 May 2009 (Pre-event 11 - 15 June 2008)

Location: nearest town is Banja Luka

Organisation hosting event: RK "Kayon"

Event Director: Aleksandar Pastir

River: Vrbas River with the Downriver being held on the Tara River. River Vrbas is fast mountain river, with several white water sections and pool drops. Length that is used for rafting is 31km. (from dam to downtown). Vrbas is crossing two canyons: canyon Tijesno (5km) and canyon Podmilacje (8km). Level of the water depends on dam, usual limits are 25 to 100 cubic meters, and in spring it is over 500 cubic meters. Grade is 3-4.

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b) WRC in Korea - June 2007  
Download Info Letter #2 Here
Download Info Letter #3 Here

IRF WORLD RAFTING CHAMPIONSHIP 2007, Naerinchon river, Korea, 27 June – 2 July

Korea is pleased to host rafters from around the world for the 2007 IRF World Rafting Championships on our river. We hope to see every national team around the world participating. The official WRC website is www.2007wrc.com.

Teams
National federations that are fully paid up members of the IRF may enter one women's and one men's team. The teams of six plus a reserve (optional) must be selected through fair and credible national selections in accordance with the IRF Race Rules.

Schedule
June 27    Official practice
June 28    Official practice
June 29    Official practice / Opening Ceremony
June 30    Sprint / Optional practice
July 1       Slalom / Optional practice
July 2       Downriver/ Trophy Presentation/ Closing Party
July 3       Departure

Location
The host town is Inje (www.inje.go.kr), a small, agricultural town, close to the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Nature Reserve, and Korean's all-time favourite, Mt. Sorak National Park. Inje is located in the north-eastern part of Korea and is 2 hours from Seoul and 3.5 hours from the Incheon International Airport which is the main airport for Seoul.

Please, refer http://www.knto.or.kr/main.jsp for general tourism info of Korea

River
The Naerinchon is a low volume mountain river which swells during the Monsoon season in late-June early-July. 

Contact
Sue Liell-Cock, IRF Secretary General, 
Sung-hoon Oh, Event Director, 2007 IRF World Rafting Championships holydiver@kolon.com or raftoh@hotmail.com Phone +82-16-241-2527 

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c) History
The World Rafting Championship has its origins in the international events of Project RAFT in which up to 50 teams competed in various disciplines including Slalom and Down River on the Chuya river, Siberia (1987), Nanthala river, USA (1989), Reventazón and Pacuare rivers, Costa Rica (1991) and Coruh river, Turkey (1993). Later, the Camel White Water Challenge (CWWC) took place on the Zambezi river, Zimbabwe (1995–1997 and 2001), Reventazón and Pacuare rivers, Costa Rica (1998), Orange river, South Africa (1999) and Futalefu river, Chile (2000).

The last three events were given the status of World Championships and for this reason the teams had to qualify through selection events at the national and continental levels in coordination with the International Rafting Federation (IRF). In the year 2000 the IRF resolved to hold the World Rafting Championships every 2 years and eliminate the selection events at the continental level to facilitate the development of the sport at the international level. 

Consequentially the World Rafting Championships have been held on the Reventazón and Pacuare rivers, Costa Rica (1998), Orange river, South Africa (1999) and Futalefu river, Chile (2000)Gauley river, USA (2001), Vlatava river, Czech Republic (2003) and on the Quijos River, Ecuador (2005) with the 2007 event to be held on the Naerinchon River in South Korea from the 27 June to 2 July.

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d) Disciplines
Rafting competitions consist of 3 disciplines – Sprint, Slalom and Downriver. The points earned in each discipline are added to determine the Overall winner and final positions. Each team has 6 members with the option to have a reserve.

• The Sprint is without doubt the most visually exciting discipline and counts for 30% of the total points. This event is an elimination race in which pairs of teams race down a section of powerful rapids. The winner of each heat proceeds to the next round and eventually just 2 teams will remain for the Final.

• The Slalom is the most technically challenging event and counts for 30% percent of the total points. This event demands a high level of technique and teamwork to negotiate the rafts through 12 downriver and upriver gates in powerful rapids. Touching, failing to pass or intentionally moving a gate results in a penalty. Each team runs the course twice and their best time is used to determine the results.

• The Downriver is the star event and is worth 40% of the total score. The race is close to an hour of racing along of a section of continuous and powerful rapids. Technical ability and endurance are essential elements to ensuring a good position in this event which is crucial for the teams that aspire to win the Championship. The points earned by the teams in the previous events determine their position in the starting line-up in groups up to 5 rafts.

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e) Past Results
Results available to download here as Adobe Acrobat files

Summary of Past Results

	Men		Women
1998	1	Slovenia	1	USA
	2	Czech Rep	2	Britain
	3	Germany	3	Slovakia
1999	1	Slovenia	1	New Zealand
	2	Russia	2	United States
	3	Czech Rep	3	Great Britain
2000	1	Russia	1	New Zealand
	2	Slovakia	2	United States
	3	Germany	3	Slovakia
2001	1	Germany	1	Czech Rep
	2	Italy	2	Slovakia
	3	Czech Rep	3	United States
2003	1	Czech Rep	1	New Zealand
	2	Germany	2	Czech Rep
	3	Brazil	3	Slovakia
2005	1	Russia	1	Czech Rep
	2	Czech Rep	2	New Zealand
	3	USA	3	Slovakia
2006	1		1
	2		2
	3		3
2007	1		1
	2		2
	3		3

f) Media for last and coming events
Please click here for the media for the previous and upcoming events

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