We are back online and can keep you updated on the greatest rafting event in the World bought to you by TEVA Benelux . Today is the Slalom race and so far it has proved to be a great event with a lot of  challenging gates. Below is a recap of the WRC,prior to today and  links to the photos and video.

• Check out the official World Rafting Champs website
• Photos from the event are online at the Teva Benelux Flickr site
• You Tube video do a search for user worldraftingchamps as we are loading video there each day

July 15

Today was a busy day on the course at the Teva World Rafting Champs (WRC) and Teva Youth World Rafting Champs.  The Youth event had its last event the downriver while the WRC had their first 2 events, the sprint and head to head (H2H)

The youth downriver went very well and was a grueling event.  It’s hard to raft for a few minutes, paddle flat water for a few more minutes and then run uphill to the top of the course to do it 3 more times. The youth teams did a great job and showed great athletic prowess and will be an even greater part of rafting in the future.

In the youth men’s division the Germans and Russians were out front early and battled between themselves for 1^st and 2^nd with the Germans crossing the line first.  The battle for third and fourth was intense as well with the Netherlands and Czech republic going hard at each other and this included a couple of lead changes.  In the end the Netherlands held their ground, ran well and came in third.

For the women the Netherlands bid their time and waited for Germany and Russia to battle it out and then came on strong and passed them both. From then on they held the lead and won the race.  Germany took second and Russia Third

The 1^st Youth World Rafting Championships has come to an end. The complete results are available on the official website.  The top teams in the men were Russia (1), Germany (2) and Netherlands (3).  The women’s overall winners were Netherlands (1), Germany (2) and Russia (3).

The WRC Sprint saw Russia in the top spot followed by Japan, Czech Republic, Brazil and in 5^th and a great showing Indonesia.  The women’s saw Great Britain stomp the rest of the field with a time over 2 seconds faster than the Netherlands in 2^nd place.  USA took 3^rd followed by Slovakia and then Italy.

The H2H battle lines were drawn and the fun began.  The first round had no real upsets although it was close when Bulgaria tried to take the USA.  Round 2 of the eliminations saw all the expected teams move to the next round of 8 except New Zealand who were penalized.

In the Round of 8 Brazil beat Great Britain, Japan beat the USA, Slovakia beat Hungary (they flipped on the course) and Russia Beat Australia.  In the round of 4 Japan Beat Brazil and Slovakia beat Russia.  The final was a great race with Japan having lane advantage.  However the Slovakian team showed there true skill and teamwork and managed to pass Japan and take first place. The Slovakian team has been one of the top teams for many years and it’s good to see them upset the favored teams and take the gold in the sprint. Brazil came 3^rd with Russia 4^th.

The women’s H2H was just as exiting and in the round of 16 the Czech Republic upset the rankings by beating the USA.  In the round of 8 the Slovakian team beat New Zealand, Japan beat Netherlands, Russia beat the Czech Republic and Great Britain beat Hungary.  In the semi finals Slovakia beat Japan and Russia beat Great Britain.  This set up a great final and it was close to the end but the Slovakian team took the win.  Great Britain took 3^rd and Japan 4^th.

It was a long day and a lot of racing. Many people worked hard to make it happen. The crew from the Dutch Rafting Federation, all the judges, safety crew, and volunteers from the Whitewater School made it happen.  Thank you to all of you for your hard work and dedication to make this happen.

July 14, 2010

Today’s Youth Teva World Rafting Championships had the teams using their technical skills to their fullest. The slalom course consisted of 12 gates hanging over the river in positions that many teams had trouble with while others made the course look easier.

In the end the Germans reigned supreme in both the men’s and women’s division.  The German men had time of 2.35:24 which included 2 penalties for touching the poles.  The German ladies had a total time of 3.55:31 which included 6 touch penalties.   2^nd place in the men’s division was Russia followed by the Czech Republic.  In the women’s division the Netherland women took 2^nd and Venezuela 3^rd by improving their time by 4 minutes.

Slalom Results

Overall standings after 3 events for the top teams are:

• Youth Women – Germany (1), Netherlands (2), Venezuela (3), Russia (4), Great Britain (5)
• Youth Men – Russia (1), Germany (2), Czech Republic (3), Netherlands (4), Turkey (5)

Overall Results

For the World Rafting Championship (WRC) today was slalom practice. The teams breezed through the first practice session as the course was set for the youth teams.  However the 2^nd practice had a new set of gates waiting for them.  Much more consistent with a world championship level and this required them all to dig deeper and think harder to ensure clean lines.  The most action was in gates 8 and 9 with various teams flipping and many others surfing in their attempts to cross the river and run both upstream gates.

Teva World Rafting Championship has 29 countries represented with 29 men and 15 women teams. The inaugural Teva Youth World Championship has 13 countries represented with 13 men’s teams and 5 women’s.  The opening ceremony held in the Flowrider area of Dutch Water Dreams is still going with the official team photos being taken while they surf the Flowrider.  Take a look at the photos on the Teva Benalux flickr site and see for yourself.   The opening ceremony which was short and sweet is setting up to be a fantastic event with a lot of energy and one spicy slalom course.

July 13^th 2010

This morning the teams practiced the sprint and head to head (H2H). They will have a second round of practice this afternoon.  Most teams are handling the course well and making the necessary moves to get through the rapids upright. We have seen a few flips and some swims but the professional safety team made sure all swimmers were okay.

The second race of the Teva Youth World Championships was the head to head race.  Two teams battling it out with the winner advancing the next round.  The men’s quarter-finals saw The Czech Republic beat Slovenia, Netherlands beat Great Britain, Russia beat Germany and Turkey beat the Czech Republic mixed team.  In the Semi-finals Czech Republic advanced to the final defeating the Netherlands and as did Russia crossing the line in front of Turkey.

The men’s youth final was a great race with Russia taking full advantage of their lane choice.  However the Czech Republic put up a great fight and although they never managed to bump or push the Russians out of the way they gave it their all till they got caught on top of the courses biggest drop the mother.  After being held up for a few seconds Russia pulled ahead, never looked back and won the race.

The women’s race saw the Netherlands move to the final after beating Venezuela and Germany beat Russia to advance.  The final race saw the Netherlands take control from the get go and win gold for the home team.  The team consists of Nina the team captain and Karin from The Hague plus Anke and Krysia who are from the CIOS sports and education school. CIOS is supporting the Teva World Rafting Championship with over 50 volunteers.

Today’s race went well and the organizing team from Dutch Water Dreams and the Dutch Rafting Federation did a great job. The only downfall is that there was an unfair, and too big an advantage for the team who had lane choice as the left bank starting position pulled rafts upstream in an eddy and angled the raft making it virtually impossible to ever win from that lane unless you had a lucky surge in the current, the wind blew in your favor and you had a great deal of luck and the opposing team messed up the run. Only Czech Republic got lucky and passed Netherlands when they landed on an island in the course.

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