|
International Rafting Federation Newsletter Contents: 1) 2003 IRF WORLD RAFTING CHAMPS 2) OTHER EVENTS RESULTS 3) OTHER EVENTS COMING UP 4) RACE JUDGES - certified judges 5) GUIDE TRAINING & EDUCATION 6) BIDS FOR 2004 WORLDS 7) CONTACT WITH NEW COUNTRIES
******************************** The Czechs are the Mens World Rafting Champs! After being so close the last 4 World Champs (2nd, 3rd, 4th, 2nd), they have at last secured that elusive 1st place! Congratulations! And the New Zealand Women took back their crown from the Czech women's team making it the 3rd time they are the Womens World Rafting Champs - well done! The general response from competitors is that the race venues were excellent for racing and that the race organization was flawless. The thanks must go to the volunteers, sponsors, teams, supporters, Czech organisers and all the others involved and particularly to Stan Hajek and Robert Kazik. It was an excellent turn out with 24 countries being represented and a new record of 10 womens teams, which is very promising for the future of women's rafting internationally. The full results as well as pictures and daily news releases can be seen at www.e-rafting.info/rafting/WRC03.
******************************** b) The annual Gauley Whitewater Challenge which is split into the Whitewater Cup (which is also the USA National Champs), the Animal Upper Gauley Race and the Gauley Citizens Challenge ran from the 18 to the 22 September. Results can be seen on www.rapidpulse.net.
******************************** INDONESIA
2003 – ASAHAN WHITEWATER FESTIVAL
******************************** Various judges courses and exams were run in Czech before the start of the World Champs. All these judges are now certified IRF Judges (Assistant Judges level). These Judges can confirm their certifications on the website at www.intraftfed.com/sport & comp/Race Judges.
******************************** A GT&E Instructor Workshop was run after the World Champs. This was held on the Salza river in Austria. The workshop was very succesful and a number of Instructors were certified, furthering the extent to which the IRF certification is extending itself. If there is a need for a workshop to be run in your region please contact us and we can get to work on that. Workshops are ideally run to certify potential instructors as IRF Instructors so that they can then certify all their future guides and trip leaders with the IRF certification.
******************************** All bids for the 2004 IRF World Rafting Champs should be sent to us before the 15th October. A decision as to where it will be next year will be made before the end of this year.
******************************** We are always wanting to extend our contact to all those that raft and so are always pleased to make contact with individuals, companies and organisations that have these same interests. Recently the IRF was invited to a rafting seminar in China which was successful and it seems that future contact and growth between us is viable. China has a huge potential for rafting and could be a great source of new adventures for the ever hungry guides. They have also shown an interest in future competitions. Other countries we have recently heard from for the first time are the Philipines, Honduras, South Korea and Portugal. We also had a number of new countries joining recently: Greece, Austria, Hungary and revival of contacts with many other countries. We are therefore looking forward to an even bigger World Champs next time! | |
 |
Contact
us!